UC-N 


SB    307    5 


GIFT  OF 
Prof.    E. J.Viiickson 


DEPT 


A    MANUAL 


VEGETABLE  PLANTS. 


CONTAINING 

THE  EXPERIENCES  OF  THE  AUTHOR  IN  STARTING  ALL  THOSE 

KINDS  OF  VEGETABLES  WHICH  ARE  MOST  DIFFICULT 

FOR  A  NOVICE  TO  PRODUCE  FROM  SEEDS. 


THE  BEST  METHODS  KNOWN  FOR  COMBATING  AND  REPELUN3 

NOXIOUS  INSECTS,  AND  PREVENTING  THE  DISEASES 

TO  WHICH  GARDEN  VEGETABLES 

ARE  SUBJECT. 


BY 

ISAAC   F.  TILLINGHAST. 


FACTORYVILLE,  PA. : 
TILLINGHAST    BROTHERS. 

1878. 


£.  N/. 


MAIN  Ll»«ARY.AO«ICULTUilE 


Copyright,  1877, 
I.    F.    TILLINGHAST. 


S.  W.  GREEN, 

Printer  and  Electrotyper, 

16  &  18  Jacob  Street, 

New  York. 


PREFACE 


WE  offer  this  little  volume  to  the  world,  honestly 
believing  that  its  perusal  will  benefit  all  its  readers 
who  are  so  situated  as  to  apply  its  teachings  to  prac- 
tice. •  >-.  - 

As  a  literary  writer  we  claim  no  credit,  and  invite 
no  criticism  upon  our  work  as  a  rhetorical  essay,  or 
in  a  literary  point  of  view. 

It  has  been  written  entirely  during  odd  hours 
snatched  from  business  pursuits,  and  its  text  must  be 
very  imperfect.  In  its  composition  we  have  endeav- 
ored to  be  as  brief  and  concise  as  possible,  knowing 
well  that  by  the  majority  of  people  in  this  hurry- 
ing age  the  wheat  will  be  considered  more  valuable 
without  the  chaff  than  with  it.  Ideas  of  value  are 
wanted.  We  have  endeavored  to  supply  them. 

If,  after  a  careful  perusal,  the  reader  agrees  with  us 
in  thinking  that  the  knowledge  herein  contained  is 
worth  to  him  more  than  the  price  of  the  volume,  he 
must  rest  abundantly  satisfied  with  his  investment. 

We  are  aware  that  more  printed  paper  may  be  ob- 
tained elsewhere  for  less  money  than  in  this  instance. 


4  PREFACE. 

But  that  argues  nothing.  Good  milk  may  be  ob- 
tained at  a  far  less  cost  for  a  given  quantity  than 
cream  or  butter.  We  charge  for  the  ideas,  which  are 
our  own,  and  not  for  the  paper  on  which  they  are 
printed,  or  the  covers  which  contain  them.  The  lat- 
ter are  easily  obtainable,  the  former  are  not.  If  you 
buy  a  pound  of  sugar  for  a  shilling,  and  the  mer- 
chant sends  it  to  you  in  a  china  bowl,  you  will  thank 
him  for  the  bowl  rather  than  grumble  because  he  did 
not  send  a  ten-quart  pail. 

That  all  who  purchase  a  copy  of  this  work  may  be 
enabled  to  profit  by  its  teachings,  an  hundred-fold 
upon  their  investment,  is  the  sincere  wish  of 

THE  AUTHOR. 


CONTENTS. 


PART  FIRST. 

PAGE 

GROWING  PLANTS  UNDER  GLASS,     ....  7 

The  Manure  Hot-Bed, 8 

Fire  Hot-Beds 8 

Cost  of  Sash 15 

Cotton  Sheeting  for  Covers 15 

Shutters, 16 

Use  of  "Flats," 16 

Small  Boxes  for  Single  Plants 17 

Planting  Early  Cabbage  Seeds, 18 

Soil  for  Hot-Beds, 20 

Temperature,    .........  22 

Air  and  Light,        ........  22 

Damping  off,    .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .22 

Watering, 23 

Cauliflower  and  Celery  Plants,         .         .  .         .24 

Tomato,  Pepper,  and  Egg  Plants,  24 

Lettuce, 24 

Sowing  Fine  Seeds,       .......  24 

Transplanting, 26 

Assorting, 28 

Mice — Preventing  Depredations 28 

Cold  Frames,         .                  29 

Sweet  Potato  Plants,         .                  29 


CONTENTS. 


PART    SECOND. 

PAGE 

GROWING  PLANTS  IN  THE  OPEN  GROUND,        .  36 

CABBAGE  PLANTS 36 

Club  Root,          ;  ^ •  ••£ '.  •'"      .        .        ,'     ?  .         .         .  40 

The  Cabbage  Maggot,      .......  42 

The  Striped  Flea  Beetle, 44 

Our  Preventive,         .         .         .    ,     .         .         .         .         .  46 

The  Radish  Maggot,      .         .         .         .         ...  53 

The  Use  of  Lime,     .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .  55 

Plaster  or  Gypsum, 56 

Special  or  Commercial  Fertilizers,  .         .         .         -57 

Preparing  Ground  for  Cabbage  Plants,        .        >:  '    ;  60 

Cultivation,       ...          ....        V        .  63 

Transplanting,       ........  64 

Varieties,          .         .         .         .         .         .         . '  •• , '".. '  •"•     .  65 

The  Cut  Worm 71 

The  Green  Worm,     ........  72 

Salting  Cabbage,  ........  75 

Watering  Plants  in  the  Seed-Bed,    .         .         .     ;:  .   "     .  77 

CELERY  PLANTS,          ......       •;-,-'.  77 

ASPARAGUS  PLANTS, .80 

STRAWBERRY  PLANTS,          .        .        .        .        .        .        .  82 

Setting  the  Plants 85 

PACKING  PLANTS  FOR  TRANSPORTATION,  ....  87 

Care  on  Arrival,         .         .         .         .         .          .         .         .89 

GROWING  SQUASHES,    ......      '*•*'».-••//•  9O 

THE  POTATO :•  ^-.  ;   .  94 

Notes  on  the  Newer  Varieties 94 

Early  Varieties, 97 

Late  Varieties,       ........  99 


PART  FIRST. 


GROWING  PLANTS  UNDER  GLASS. 

IN  this  broad  and  fair  but  fickle  and  undu- 
lating clime,  where  Dame  Nature's  promises 
of  flowery  spring  -  time  are  so  frequently 
frowned  upon  by  a  polar  wave,  which  drives 
the  life-blood  back  to  the  very  heart  of  every 
unprotected  living  thing,  some  kind  of  pro- 
tection from  the  lingering  wintry  blasts  is  an 
absolute  necessity  to  every  grower  of  early 
garden  vegetables,  whether  he  be  a  producer 
of  them  in  large  quantities  for  market  pur- 
poses, or  only  seeks  to  supply  his  own  table 
with  early  delicacies,  or  his  garden  with 
plants  which  are  to  be  the  germs  of  future 
substantials.  Some  kind  of  protection  from 
the  cold  above,  and  an  addition  to  the  natu- 
ral warmth  below  the  growing  plants,  is 
required ;  and  to  meet  this  end,  the  heat 
which  is  developed  by  the  slow  combustion 
of  vegetable  matter  or  the  decomposition  of 


8 


„,*-,.-  ,  A   MANUAL    OF 


stable  manures  has  generally  been  the  ac- 
cepted means  of  accomplishing  the  desired 
object. 

THE  MANURE  HOT-BED  has  been  so  fre- 
quently described,  and  the  best  manner  of 
constructing  it  so  fully  dwelt  upon  by  all1 
the  principal  agricultural  journals,  works  on 
gardening,  and  seed  catalogues,  which  have 
been  freely  scattered  over  the  land,  that  we 
deem  a  description  of  it  altogether  unneces- 
sary in  our  present  work,  especially  as  we 
think  that  the  day  of  using  manure  for  fuel 
will  soon  be  known  only  in  the  recollections 
of  the  past.  The  inestimable  value  which  we, 
as  tillers  of  the  soil,  long  ago  learned  to 
put  upon  manure  for  plant  food,  and  the 
cheapness  with  which  the  desired  amount  of 
heat  could  be  produced  from  the  more  natu- 
ral article  of  fuel,  coal,  led  us  to  experiment 
in  this  direction,  with  the  result  of  several 
years  ago  abolishing  our  manure-beds  and 
depending  entirely  upon  our  FIRE  HOT-BEDS 
for  producing  winter  headed  lettuce  and 
vegetable  plants  for  early  spring  use.  In- 
deed, our  labors  in  this  direction  have  given 
us  such  unbounded  satisfaction,  and  we  find 
that  the  use  of  such  structures  is  so  illy  un- 


VEGETABLE    PLANTS.  9 

derstood  by  the  gardeners  of  our  country, 
that  we  will  proceed  to  describe  a  fire  hot- 
bed in  its  simplest  form,  such  a  one  as  may 
be  constructed  by  any  farmer  or  gardener  of 
ordinary  intelligence  entirely  with  his  own 
hands,  the  only  outlay  necessary  more  than  in 
the  construction  of  a  common  manure-bed 
being  for  brick  of  which  to  build  the  furnace, 
and  the  pipes  for  constructing  the  flue.  The 
bed  should  be  built  on  ground  having  a  natural 
rise  of  about  one  foot  in  twenty,  at  least  We 
have  constructed  them  with  a  rise  of  one  foot 
in  every  ten,  in  length  of  bed,  for  fifty  feet,  and 
then  turned  at  a  right  angle  and  run  twenty- 
five  feet  with  scarcely  any  rise  at  all,  the  flue 
terminating  in  a  wooden  chimney  twelve  feet 
high,  and  with  no  trouble  for  draught.  The 
warmest  part  of  such  a  bed  is  at  the  angle, 
fifty  feet  from  the  fire,  as  the  heat  readily 
ascends  to  that  point.  It  will  be  understood 
that  these  beds  differ  but  little  in  appearance 
from  a  common  manure-bed.  A  trench  is  exca- 
vated six  feet  in  width,  about  two  feet  in  depth, 
and  of  any  desired  length,  say  from  twenty-five 
to  seventy-five  feet,  or  perhaps  even  longer, 
though  we  believe  that  to  be  sufficient  for  one 
fire.  At  the  lower  end  of  this  excavation  the 


IO  A    MANUAL    OF 

furnace  is  built,  in  the  simplest  manner,  of 
brick ;  and  the  fire  and  heat  flue,  through 
which  the  draught  and  smoke  pass,  runs  up 
through  the  centre  of  the  trench.  Stakes,  made 
of  3  by  4-inch  scantling,  are  driven  along  the 
sides  of  the  trench  at  intervals  of  eight  feet, 
and  it  is  then  boarded  up  on  the  inside  of  the 
stakes  to  a  height  of  three  feet  on  the  north  or 
back  side,  and  two  and  one-half  on  the  front, 
which  should  be  the  south  side,  in  order  that  it 
may  lie  to  the  sun  and  be  sheltered  from  the 
north  winds.  The  cross  sleepers  for  the  floor 
should  now  be  placed.  Near  the  furnace,  where 
the  pipes  get  very  hot,  the  floor  should  be  at 
least  twelve  inches  above  the  pipes,  but  after 
getting  twenty  feet  from  the  furnace  it  may  be 
gradually  lowered  to  within  two  or  three  inches, 
care  being  taken  to  keep  the  distance  great 
enough  to  permit  a  free  circulation  of  air  over 
the  pipes.  Above  the  floor  we  are  to  have 
space  for  six  inches  or  more  of  soil,  and  eight 
to  sixteen  inches  between  the  soil  and  glass  for 
growth  of  plants.  More  than  this  amount 
will  be  found  unnecessary,  and,  in  fact,  dam- 
aging, as  the  whole  structure  should  be  kept  as 
low  as  possible,  in  order  to  economize  warmth. 
The  spaces  between  the  side  boarding  and  earth 


VEGETABLE    PLANTS.  I  I 

at  the  sides  of  the  trench  should  be  entirely 
filled  with  dry  forest-leaves  or  some  other  good 
non-conductor.  Common  3  by  6  feet  sashes 
are  used  crosswise  of  the  bed,  precisely  as  on  a 
manure-bed.  Perhaps  the  only  part  that  needs 
further  description  is  the  furnace.  Ours  have 
been  constructed,  in  the  simplest  manner,  of 
common  brick,  but,  of  course,  fire-brick  would 
be  more  lasting.  The  height  of  the  fireplace 
is  two  feet,  ten  inches  of  this  being  below  the 
grate-bars  for  an  ash-pit,  and  fourteen  above 
the  grate  for  fire.  The  width  necessary  for  the 
fireplace  of  a  bed  of  the  above  size  is  twelve 
inches. 

The  grate-bars  are  each  cast  separately,  and 
are  about  thirty  inches  in  length,  which  form 
the  depth  of  the  furnace  from  front  to  rear. 
Eight  of  these  bars  are  required,  each  occupy- 
ing a  space  of  one  and  a  half  inches.  Imme- 
diately back  of  the  furnace  there  should  be 
a  rise  of  six  or  eight  inches,  to  prevent  ashes 
and  cinders  from  being  drawn  up  into  the  pipes. 
The  best  article  for  pipes  is  the  common  terra- 
cotta, which  is  manufactured  and  used  exten- 
sively as  a  substitute  for  brick  chimneys  in 
dwellings.  We  have  found  it  necessary  to  con- 
struct the  first  ten  feet  of  the  flue  of  brick,  as 


12  A    MANUAL    OF 

the  sudden  heating  of  the  pipes,  so  near  the 
furnace,  is  quite  sure  to  crack  them.  Common 
drain-tile  may  be  safely  used  at  a  little  distance 
from  the  fire,  and  is  cheaper  than  terra-cotta 
ware.  The  pipes,  of  whatever  construction, 
should  be  at  least  -six  inches  in  inside  diameter. 
Good  terra-cotta  pipes  of  this  size  can  be  pur- 
chased in  our  vicinity  at  about  twenty-five 
cents  per  running  foot,  and  in  this  item  con- 
sists the  main  cost  of  this  kind  of  a  bed  over 
a  common  manure-bed.  Of  fuel,  we  have  the 
advantage  over  many  sections  of  country,  in 
being  near  enough  the  anthracite-coal  region 
to  enable  us  to  procure  a  supply  at  very  small 
cost.  We  have,  however,  found  one  ton  of 
chestnut  coal  amply  sufficient  to  run  a  bed 
seventy-five  feet  in  length  for  six  weeks,  and 
there  are  few  sections  of  country  in  which  the 
cost  of  coal  is  so  great  as  to  compare  with  the 
value  of  a  sufficient  quantity  of  horse  manure, 
capable  of  producing  the  same  amount  of  heat. 
When  using  manure  for  a  bed  of  this  size,  we 
found  that,  to  produce  a  good  and  lasting  heat, 
at  least  one  wagon-load  for  each  3  by  6  sash 
was  required.  This  would  cost  here  at  least  $2 
per  load,  which,  for  the  twenty-five  sashes  re- 
quired to  cover  the  seventy-five  feet  of  bed, 


VEGETABLE    PLANTS.  13 

would  amount  to  $50,  which  is  much  more 
than  the  cost  of  constructing  the  furnace-bed, 
including  cost  of  pipes. 

So  we  contend  that  a  bed  of  this  construction 
is  cheaper,  even  for  the  first  year  of  use,  than  the 
common  manure-beds  ;  while,  in  after  years, 
when  manure-beds  have  to  be  refilled  entirely, 
at  as  great  cost  as  at  first,  the  fire-beds  are 
ready  to  start  any  day  desired,  at  no  cost  what- 
ever. Of  course,  the  spent  manure  taken  from 
a  hot-bed  can  be  used  for  fertilizing  the  soil, 
but  in  most  instances  it  is  so  fire-fanged  and 
burned  out  as  to  be  of  comparatively  little 
value. 

The  time  and  care  required  in  attending  a 
fire-bed  is  no  more  than  in  those  of  the  com- 
mon construction.  A  fierce,  hot  fire  is  not 
required.  In  moderate  weather  we  have  found 
it  necessary  to  replenish  the  fuel  but  two  or 
three  times  per  day,  a  slow  and  gentle,  but 
long-continued  development  of  heat  being  all 
that  is  required.  For  the  purpose  of  keeping 
a  good  supply  of  warm  water  for  watering  the 
growing  plants,  we  place  a  large  pan  or  kettle 
over  the  fireplace. 

As  it  will  not  do  to  use  cold  water,  which 
would  chill  and  injure  the  plants,  early  in  the 


14  A    MANUAL   OF 

season,  the  importance  of  having  this  supply 
of  warm  water  at  hand  will  readily  be  appre- 
ciated. This  furnace  is  covered  or  enclosed  by 
a  small  building,  which  should  be  shut  off  by 
a  partition  from  the  plant-beds  beyond,  as  but 
little  heat  is  developed  in  the  furnace-room. 
If  the  steam  from  the  heating  water  can  be 
conducted  into  the  beds,  its  presence  will  be 
desirable,  as  the  fire  heat  has  a  tendency  to  dry 
out  the  beds  rapidly,  and  this  tendency  is  over- 
come by  the  moisture  from  the  condensing 
steam.  It  is  well,  also,  to  keep  a  small  dish  of 
water  standing  on  the  heat -pipe,  the  arising 
vapors  from  which  serve  the  same  purpose. 

In  sections  where  coal  cannot  be  obtained 
cheaply  enough  to  enable  the  gardener  to 
make  use  of  a  ton  for  this  purpose,  hard  wood 
may,  of  course,  be  substituted,  with  the  single 
disadvantage  of  the  additional  time  and  care 
thus  entailed  upon  attending  the  fire. 

One  great  advantage,  of  which  we  have  not 
yet  spoken,  that  the  fire-bed  has  over  a  ma- 
nure-bed, is  the  ease  with  which  the  tempera- 
ture may  be  regulated  to  conform  to  the  ever- 
changing  external  temperature. 

When  a  sudden  cold  snap,  with  its  howling 
north  winds,  comes  down  upon  the  manager 


VEGETABLE    PLANTS.  15 

of  the  manure-beds,  his  only  hope  of  escape  is 
to  closely  cover  all  his  beds  with  blanket  and 
mat,  for  it  is  beyond  his  power  to  increase  the 
intensity  of  the  heat ;  but  with  the  fire-bed, 
how  different !  All  that  is  necessary,  on  all 
ordinary  occasions,  is  to  increase  the  fire  upon 
the  evening  of  the  coldest  nights.  Indeed,  we 
have  found  the  use  of  straw  mats  almost  un- 
necessary, if  the  sashes  fit  as  closely  as  they 
should,  and  the  sides  are  properly  banked  and 
filled  with  dry  leaves  to  prevent  the  escape  of 
heat. 

COST  OF  SASH. — Good  3  by  6  hot-bed  sash, 
glazed  and  painted,  ready  for  use,  can  now  be 
bought  at  Binghamton,  N.  Y.,  at  $2.25  each. 
This  is  the  most  expensive  item  in  the  con- 
struction of  any  ho.-bed,  but  it  is  an  expense 
that  cannot  well  be  avoided.  Various  substi- 
tutes have  been  devised  for  the  glass,  but,  so 
far  as  we  have  experimented,  without  avail. 

GOOD  COTTON  SHEETING  will  sometimes  an- 
swer a  very  good  purpose  for  late  use,  after  the 
danger  of  very  cold  weather  has  passed ;  but 
its  use  is  attended  with  considerable  annoy- 
ance, and,  although  cheaper  in  the  beginning, 
it  has,  with  us,  proved  more  expensive  in  the 
end,  as  it  will  last  but  very  few  years. 


I 6  A    MANUAL    OF 

SHUTTERS. — If  glass  sashes  cannot  be  af- 
forded in  sufficient  quantity  to  cover  the  de- 
sired area,  we  prefer  light  basswood  shutters 
to  the  use  of  cloth.  These  are  made  exactly 
the  size  of  the  sashes  in  use,  and  are  alternated 
with  them,  care  being  taken  to  change  the 
position  every  day,  so  the  glass  will  cover  the 
space  which  was  covered  on  the  previous  day 
by  the  shutter,  that  no  part  of  the  bed  will 
suffer  for  want  of  light.  These  shutters  will 
be  found  very  useful  in  covering  the  glass 
frames  on  cold  nights,  and  also  in  shading 
them  during  intensely  sunny  weather. 

USE  OF  FLATS. — We  have  used  both  a  solid 
floor  in  the  bottom  of  the  bed,  on  which  the 
soil  is  placed  to  a  depth  of  six  or  eight  inches, 
and  movable  "  flats,"  which  are  best  and  cheap- 
est made  of  soap  or  saleratus  boxes  sawed  in  two 
pieces.  When  these  are  used,  no  other  floor  is 
necessary,  only  a  series  of  cross  sleepers  on 
which  to  rest  the  edges  of  the  boxes.  For  some 
kinds  of  plants  there  is  much  gained  in  the 
use  of  such  boxes,  as  they  enable  the  operator 
to  readily  shift  the  growing  plants  to  a  cooler 
or  hotter  position  in  the  bed,  as  may  be  re- 
quired. These  "  flats  "  are  also  desirable  when 
selling  early  plants  in  the  market,  as  they  re- 


VE.GETABLE    PLANTS.  I  7 

main  fresh  and  vigorous  for  several  days,  and 
need  not  have  the  roots  disturbed,  until  sold 
to  the  planter. 

SMALLER  BOXES. —  The  latest  device  for 
safety  in  transplanting  is  the  use  of  small  boxes, 
but  three  or  four  inches  square,  and  without 
bottom.  They  are  formed  of  four  pieces  of 
thin  wood,  dovetailed  together  after  the  man- 
ner of  the  well-known  CrandalFs  Building 
Blocks  for  Children.  These  boxes  fit  closely 
together,  and  a  single  plant  is  transplanted 
into  each  box.  When  ready  to  plant  out  in 
the  garden,  the  sides  are  taken  off  and  the  soil 
placed  in  the  ground  without  in  the  least  dis- 
turbing the  roots.  These  blocks  occupy  but 
little  room  when  packed  away,  and  answer  the 
desired  purpose  very  nicely.  They  are  the  in- 
vention of  Mr.  Crandall,  and  are  sold  through 
his  general  agents,  the  Orange  Judd  Company, 
of  New  York,  and  can  probably  be  supplied 
by  most  seedsmen  in  retail  quantities. 

In  most  sections  of  this  country  it  will  pay 
the  gardener  well  to  grow  a  crop  of  head-let- 
tuce in  his  beds  during  winter.  Even  two 
crops  may  be  grown,  but  the  ground  cannot 
well  be  cleared  in  spring  in  time  for  starting 


1 8  A    MANUAL    OF 

a  good  supply  of  cabbage  and  tomato  plants 
after  the  second. 

EARLY-CABBAGE  SEEDS  will  be  the  first  to 
be  sown  in  hot-beds  in  spring,  especially  if  none 
are  wintered  over  in  cold  frames,  and  north  of 
the  latitude  of  New  York,  as  a  general  rule,  it 
is  considered  more  risky  and  troublesome  to 
winter  them  over  than  to  grow  them  in  hot- 
beds in  spring.  The  seeds  are  generally  sown 
about  the  middle  of  February. 

NEVER  sow  BROADCAST,  but  always  in  drills 
about  four  inches  apart,  and  thinly  enough  so 
the  plants  will  not  crowd  each  other  and  grow 
spindling.  It  seems  hardly  necessary  to  urge 
the  importance  of  selecting  the  very  best  qual- 
ity of  seeds  obtainable.  If  the  seeds  are  in 
any  way  inferior,  all  the  labor  of  planting  and 
attending  the  crop,  with  its  attendant  risks,  is 
lost.  Indeed,  we  can  think  of  no  parallel  case 
in  which  a  supposed  saving  may  result  in 
greater  loss  and  waste  than  in  sowing  seeds 
which  you  have  the  slightest  idea  may  be  infe- 
rior, if  those  above  suspicion  can  be  obtained 
at  any  price.  Still  this  rule  should  not  be  so 
rigidly  adhered  to  as  to  suppose  that  the 
dealer  .or  grower  who  charges  the  greatest 
price  must  necessarily  have  the  best  article,  for 


VEGETABLE    PLANTS.  1 9 

competition  has  brought  the  price  of  nearly  all 
seeds  very  low  at  present. 

COVERING. — Cabbage  seed  should  be  cov- 
ered from  one-fourth  to  one-half  inch  in  depth, 
and  to  insure  Its  rapid  germination  the  surface 
soil  should  be  firmed,  or  pressed  down,  so  as 
to  lie  compactly  around  the  seeds. 

VARIETIES. — There  are  so  many  varieties  of 
early  cabbage  to  be  found  in  the  various 
catalogues,  that  the  planter  of  but  little  expe- 
rience is  quite  at  a  loss  to  know  which  to  se- 
lect. Yet  among  them  all  there  are  a  few  so 
far  above  the  majority  in  actual  worth,  that  we 
will  speak  only  of  what  we  consider  the  very 
best.  For  earliest  use,  the  Early  Jersey 
Wakefield  is  still  regarded  as  the  standard. 
Hendersons  Early  Summer,  though  not  quite 
as  early  as  the  Wakefield,  is  so  far  ahead  of  it 
in  size  that  most  gardeners  who  have  tested  it 
now  prefer  to  await  the  difference  in  time,  as 
it  is  by  far  the  largest  very  early  cabbage 
grown. 

True,  there  are  varieties  earlier  than  the 
Wakefield,  and  some  may  differ  with  us  in 
classing  it  as  earliest.  The  Early  York  and 
others  are  undoubtedly  earlier,  but  as  they  are 


2O  A    MANUAL    OF 

at  their  best  a  mere   handful  of  leaves,  \ve  can 
see  no  pleasure  or  profit  in  growing  them. 

Next  in  order  of  ripening  to  Henderson's 
Summer  comes  the  well-known  Early  Win- 
nigstadt,  and  closely  following  this  the  Fott- 
ler's  Early  Driimhead,  which,  for  a  general- 
purpose  cabbage,  we  consider  the  best  the 
world  has  yet  seen.  There  may  be  other  early 
varieties  which  have  more  merit  than  these 
four,  but  if  there  are  such,  we  have  not  yet 
seen  them.  We  have  a  field  of  cabbage  this 
season  containing  forty-five  early  and  late 
varieties.  A  report  of  their  comparative 
merits  may  be  found  in  the  latter  pages  of 
this  work. 

SOIL  FOR  HOT-BEDS. — A  great  mistake  made 
by  many  novices  in  gardening  is  to  use  soil  in 
hot-beds  which  is  too  heavy,  so  that  the  fre- 
quent waterings  pack  it  down  tightly,  and  the 
hot  sun  bakes  it  so  hard  that  nothing  can 
grow  in  it  as  it  ought.  The  soil  for  this  pur- 
pose should  be  much  lighter  and  looser  than 
common  garden  soil  usually  is. 

How  TO  OBTAIN  IT. — When  working  ma- 
nure-beds, it  was  our  usual  custom  to  throw 
out  the  dirt  each  summer  as  soon  as  through 
with  the  beds  for  the  season,  and  shovel  out 


VEGETABLE    PLANTS.  21 

with  the  soil  a  large  portion  of  the  underlying 
manure.  This  mixture  was  left  in  a  conical 
pile  which  was  covered  up  with  fresh  stable 
manure  in  the  fall,  which  kept  the  frost  out, 
and  allowed  it  to  decompose  and  decay  suffi- 
ciently to  become  fine,  loose  mould  by  spring. 
It  can  be  manufactured  in  a  similar  manner 
for  use  in  the  fire-beds.  Sandy  soil  and 
manure  are  placed  in  alternate  layers,  and  built 
up  into  a  conical  pile  which  is  left  for  one 
year.  Then,  when  cut  down  and  mixed  over 
thoroughly,  it  is  in  an  admirable  condition  for 
use.  If  it  is  thought  necessary  to  use  a  fertil- 
izer in  the  beds,  we  have  generally  found  it  the 
safest  and  best  course  to  apply  it  in  a  liquid 
form  by  mixing  a  little  hen  manure,  or  guano 
in  the  water  with  which  they  are  sprinkled. 
If  the  soil  has  plenty  of  well-rotted  manure  in 
its  composition,  there  is  usually  but  little  use 
of  further  enriching  it. 

CONSIDERABLE  CAUTION  is  necessary  about 
applying  strong  fertilizers,  or  special  man- 
ures, such  as  phosphates,  guano,  etc.,  to  the 
surface  of  the  beds.  The  area  is  so  small,  and 
the  desire  to  have  the  work  well  done  so 
strong,  that  it  is  frequently  overdone  to  such 
an  extent  that  the  germs  are  killed  outright 


22  A    MANUAL    OF 

before  they  see  daylight,  and  then  the  seller  of 
the  seeds  is  lucky  if  he  does  not  have  to  shoul- 
der the  blame  and  receive  the  charge  of  sell- 
ing stale  seeds. 

TEMPERATURE. — Every  hot-bed  should  have 
one  or  more  thermometers  for  showing  at  all 
times  the  temperature  of  the  bed,  for  it  is  ne- 
cessary to  the  health  of  the  plants  that  it  does 
not  vary  too  much.  Considerable  variation  is 
allowable.  The  mercury  may  run  from  time 
to  time  from  50°  to  80°  as  extremes,  though 
the  mean,  which  is  65°,  should  be  as  closely 
kept  as  possible. 

AIR  AND  LIGHT. — The  influence  of  light 
and  air  is  fully  as  necessary  to  healthy  plant- 
growth  as  it  is  to  animals.  If  kept  from 
the  light  and  air,  a  plant  grows  pale  and  spin- 
dling ;  still  it  is  at  all  times  necessary  to  guard 
against  too  sudden  an  admission  of  air  of  a 
different  temperature  from  that  within,  as  such 
a  change,  or  perhaps  a  continuance  of  a  very 
warm  and  wet  atmosphere,  with  an  occasional 
admission  of  cold  air,  tends  to  produce  what 
is  known  as 

"  DAMPING  OFF"  of  the  plants.  This  is  a 
shrivelling  or  wasting  away  of  the  body  of  the 
plant  just  above  the  surface  of  the  ground  un- 


VEGETABLE    PLANTS.  23 

til  but  a  mere  thread  is  left,  which  continues 
to  support  the  plant  with  considerable  vitality 
for  some  time,  but  finally  effects  its  ruin. 
This  disease  is  seldom  seen,  however,  except 
among  plants  which  have  grown  too  rapidly 
for  their  own  good  and  have  been  at  times 
kept  too  warm. 

WATERING. — Although  the  covering  of  glass 
holds  the  moisture  from  escaping  as  vapor  to  a 
considerable  extent,  the  shallowness  of  the  soil 
will  not  enable  it  to  hold  water  for  a  great 
length  of  time  during  sunny  weather,  and  the 
beds  have  to  receive  an  artificial  watering  fre- 
quently. The  best  time  to  perform  this  work 
is  about  four  o'clock  in  the  afternoon. 

PUMPS. — The  nicest  manner  of  accomplish- 
ing this  is  by  use  of  a  small  force-pump  and 
sprinkler,  which  latter  is  but  a  small  thumb- 
nozzle  on  the  end  of  a  short  hose,  through 
which  the  water  is  thrown  after  being  drawn 
by  the  pump  from  a  pail.  The  pump  known 
as  Page's  does  good  work, 'but  is  constructed 
of  tin,  and  is  consequently  not  very  durable. 
One  manufactured  by  W.  &  B.  Douglas,  Mid- 
dletown,  Ct.,  which  retails  at  §9,  is  the  best 
and  most  durable  article  of  this  kind  we  have 
yet  seen.  The  great  advantage  these  have  over 


24  A    MANUAL    OF 

the  more  common  method  of  sprinkling  with 
a  watering-pot  is  in  doing  away  with  the  ne- 
cessity of  removing  the  sash  at  each  operation. 
With  the  pump,  the  sash  has  only  to  be  raised 
a  few  inches  in  front  and  the  end  of  the  hose 
introduced,  to  give  the  whole  surface  a  com- 
plete wetting  with  a  fine  spray. 

CAULIFLOWER  AND  CELERY  PLANTS  require 
about  the  same  temperature  and  general  treat- 
ment as  cabbage.  Beds  containing  these  plants 
should  be  kept  rather  cool,  say  below  60°. 

TOMATO,  PEPPER,  AND  EGG  PLANTS  should 
never  be  kept  in  the  same  beds  with  the  cab- 
bage, but  partitions  should  separate  them,  so 
that  the  tomatoes,  etc.,  can  be  kept  15°  or  20° 
warmer  than  cabbage. 

LETTUCE  should  be  classed  with  cabbage 
and  all  other  hardy  plants  as  regards  the 
proper  temperature,  while  most  flowering 
plants  are  about  half-hardy,  and  require  about 
the  same  as  tomatoes.  The  main  crop  of  cel- 
ery plants  is  generally  planted  out  in  open 
ground  ;  but  for  early  use  a  few  may  be  planted 
to  advantage  along  the  front  side  of  the  bed 
where  it  is  partly  shaded,  as  celery  revels  in  a 
moist,  half-shady  situation. 

SOWING  FINE  SEEDS  is  an  operation  in  which 


VEGETABLE    PLANTS.  25 

a  little  ignorance  frequently  leads  to  much  dis- 
appointment. By  fine  seeds  we  mean  such  as 
celery  and  the  seeds  of  various  flowering  plants, 
which  are  so  very  small  that,  if  covered  with 
soil  to  any  considerable  depth,  they  will  not 
germinate  ;  and  on  the  other  hand,  if  left  on 
the  surface,  they  will  soon  become  too  dry  to 
sprout.  Hence  many  failures  are  made,  and 
the  seeds  are  frequently  suspected  of  lacking 
vitality,  when  the  fault  really  lies  in  the  bad 
manner  in  which  they  were  planted.  Such 
seeds  should  be  sown  upon  fresh,  moist  soil, 
and  little  or  no  covering,  save,  perhaps,  a  slight 
brushing  of  the  surface,  given  them.  The 
proper  conditions  for  stimulating  vitality  must 
be  brought  about  by  properly  firming,  or  press- 
ing the  surface  soil  around  the  seed,  and  a 
proper  degree  of  moisture  and  light  must  be 
kept  until  the  plant  has  taken  root.  One  of 
the  best  modes  of  accomplishing  these  ends  is 
to  sow  the  seeds  in  slight  depressions,  or  drills, 
then  brush  a  very  slight  amount  of  soil  over 
jthem,  water  the  surface  well  with  a  fine  spray, 
and  then  cover  it  by  laying  directly  upon  the 
soil  a  pane  of  glass  or  a  piece  of  cotton  sheet- 
ing. It  must  then  be  watched,  and  this  cover- 
ing left  only  until  the  seeds  have  sprouted  and 


26  A    MANUAL    OF 

the  first  little  root  started  downwards.  The 
coverings  are  then  removed,  frequent  but  small 
waterings  given,  and,  if  the  weather  is  sunny, 
a  partial  shade  placed  over  the  beds  to  prevent 
the  tender  plants  being  scorched  in  their  earli- 
est infancy. 

TRANSPLANTING. — This  is  one  of  the  most 
important  of  all  hot-bed  operations.  An  abun- 
dance of  good,  fine,  fibrous  roots  cannot  be 
obtained  without  several  times  transplanting 
the  young  plants.  Different  species  of  plants 
are,  of  course,  benefited  to  a  different  degree 
by  this  operation.  For  instance,  the  cabbage 
and  kindred  plants  only  require  room  to 
develop  roots  and  grow  in  a  natural,  short, 
and  stocky  form  ;  hence  only  one  removal  from 
the  crowded  seed-bed  to  new  quarters,  where 
they  are  two  or  three  inches  distant  from  each 
other,  is  all  they  require  to  produce  good 
plants,  while  tomatoes  and  other  plants  of 
similar  habits  throw  out  new  roots  readily, 
wherever  the  stem  is  covered  with  soil ;  hence, 
if  frequently  removed,  and  each  time  not  only 
given  more  room  to  spread,  but  each  time  set 
deeper  in  the  soil  than  formerly,  an  astonish- 
ing amount  of  fibrous  roots  may  be  obtained, 
and  the  more  numerous  the  fibres  in  propor- 


VEGETABLE    PLANTS.  2/ 

tion  to  the  amount  of  top,  the  more  valuable 
is  a  plant  considered  when  ready  to  plant  out 
in  its  final  stand  in  the  field.  For  these  rea- 
sons, in  order  to  produce  strictly  first-class 
tomato  plants,  it  is  considered  necessary  that 
they  be  transplanted  two  or  three  times  before 
being  offered  for  sale  or  planted  out. 

To  do  this  work  correctly  and  rapidly  is  no 
mean  accomplishment,  for  it  will  not  bear 
slighting.  Here  is  one  of  the  advantages  of 
having  the  young  plants  in  flats,  as  above 
described,  as  they  can  be  taken  out  of  the  beds, 
placed  upon  a  table,  and  the  operator  allowed 
to  sit  in  a  natural  position  while  transplanting 
into  other  flats  or  boxes  which  are  put  in  a 
suitable  place  in  the  bed.  Where  these  are 
not  used,  but  a  solid  floor,  covered  by  a  con- 
tinuous bed  of  dirt,  instead,  the  transplanting 
becomes  a  more  laborious  business ;  but  this 
method  has  one  advantage,  at  least,  in  its  favor ; 
that  is,  a  greater  depth  of  soil  can  be  used  than 
can  be  handled  readily  in  flats,  hence  less 
watering,  and  less  liability  to  dry  out  rapidly 
when  not  closely  watched.  In  transplanting 
in  a  permanent  or  immovable  bed,  the  opera- 
tor lies  upon  his  breast  on  a  wide  board  which 
spans  the  bed  crosswise.  A  thin  strip  of 


28  A    MANUAL    OF 

siding,  a  little  less  in  length  than  the  width  of 
the  bed,  is  sharpened  to  an  edge  on  one  of  its 
sides.  This  is  forced  into  the  soil  to  the  depth 
the  plants  are  expected  to  require ;  a  row  of 
plants  is  then  placed  in  this  groove,  at  a  proper 
distance  apart,  and  the  soil  placed  firmly 
against  them.  Care  must  be  taken  that  they 
are  placed  straight  or  upright ;  for  if  laid  over 
horizontally,  they  must  necessarily  grow 
crooked.  The  distance  apart  will  depend 
upon  the  size  of  the  plant  and  length  of  time 
it  is  expected  to  remain  before  another  re- 
moval. 

ASSORTING. — Before  pricking  them  out  in 
this  manner,  it  is  always  well  to  assort  the 
plants,  placing  those  of  equal  size  together, 
otherwise  the  more  vigorous  will  overreach 
and  crowd  the  weaker  ones  to  their  permanent 
injury.  As  soon  as  the  bed  is  filled,  a  copious 
watering  should  be  given  and  the  bed  shaded 
for  a  day  or  more.  The  shutters  previously 
described  are  very  useful  for  shading ;  and  late 
in  the  season,  when  the  sun's  rays  become 
powerful  under  the  glasses,  it  is  frequently 
found  necessary  to  cover  the  glass  with  a  thick 
coating  of  common  lime  whitewash. 

MICE,  both  the  common  house  species  and 


VEGETABLE    PLANTS.  2Q 

also  the  meadow  mouse,  and  the  white-bellied, 
jumping,  or  woods  mouse,  are  very  apt  to  take 
up  their  abode  in  a  hot-bed,  the  warmth  afford- 
ing a  very  agreeable  protection  to  them  at  this 
season  of  the  year.  They  are  sure  to  manifest 
their  presence  by  digging  up  the  seeds  which 
the  gardener  has  sown  and  burrowing  in  the 
soil  among  the  plants.  The  safest  remedy  we 
know,  is  to  set  a  good  trap  for  them  at  the 
time  of  making  the  bed,  so  as  to  greet 
them  upon  first  arrival.  If  allowed  to  get 
possession  in  any  considerable  numbers,  poi- 
soning will  probably  have  to  be  resorted  to. 

COLD  FRAMES. — The  final  transplanting  of 
hot-bed  plants,  previous  to  their  being  placed 
in  the  field,  should  consist  of  a  remaval  into 
cold  frames,  which  are  externally  the  same  as 
hot-beds,  but  differ  from  them  in  not  being 
supplied  with  artificial  bottom  heat,  the  glass 
sashes  giving  them  all  the  protection  necessary ; 
and  after  they  have  become  accustomed  to  the 
new  quarters,  the  covering  is  dispensed  with 
by  degrees,  and  the  plants  are  thus  "  hardened 
off,"  so  that  their  growth  may  not  be  suddenly 
checked  when  planted  out  in  the  open  field. 

SWEET-POTATO  PLANTS. — The  sweet  potato 
is  not  extensively  raised  north  of  forty  degrees 


3O  A    MANUAL    OF 

north  latitude ;  still  by  setting  good  strong 
plants  of  the  earliest  varieties,  by  the  first  of 
June,  on  rich,  sandy  ridges,  fair  crops  of  good 
1  tubers  may  be  obtained  for  home  use,  and  the 
'demand  for  plants  is  sufficient  to  warrant  a 
dealer  in  vegetable  plants  in  keeping  at  least  a 
few  thousand  in  supply.  There  are  growers 
no  farther  south  than  central  Ohio  who  make 
the  production  of  sweet-potato  plants  almost 
a  sole  business,  and  annually  sell  hundreds  of 
thousands  of  them.  North  of  this  latitude,  the 
variety  which  has  given  the  greatest  satisfac- 
tion in  the  past  is  the  Early  Nansemond.  This 
variety  has  been  kept  for  years  in  northern 
Ohio,  where  the  sweet  potato  is  profitably 
grown,  although  at  quite  a  high  latitude.  It 
has  therefore  become  acclimated,  and  will  pro- 
bably do  better  at  the  north  when  planted 
from  these  northern-grown  tubes  than  if  the 
seed  was  brought  from  the  south.  A  new 
variety  has  lately  been  introduced,  called  the 
Early  Peabody,  which  is  claimed  to  be  at  least 
.  ten  days  earlier  than  the  Nansemond,  while  at 
the  same  time  it  grows  larger  and  is  of  excel- 
lent quality.  If,  upon  further  trial,  all  these 
claims  are  sustained,  it  certainly  will  prove  a 
very  valuable  acquisition  to  northern  planters. 


VEGETABLE    PLANTS.  3! 

For  raising  plants,  medium  or  small-sized 
tubers  are  usually  selected.  As  they  require 
a  high  temperature  and  dry  atmosphere  to 
keep  well  over  winter,  it  is  difficult  to  succeed 
in  keeping  them  sound  without  having  all  the 
appliances  for  making  a  special  business  of  it, 
and  keeping  in  large  quantities.  The  proper 
temperature  for  successfully  keeping  them  is 
from  fifty  to  sixty-five  degrees.  If  exposed  to 
a  temperature  of  only  forty  degrees,  they  will 
be  liable  to  rot,  especially  if  not  perfectly  dry. 

On  these  accounts  it  is  generally  found  the 
best  policy  for  northern  growers  who  want  but 
a  few  bushels  to  purchase  them,  when  wanted 
in  spring,  of  some  one  who  makes  a  specialty 
of  keeping  them.  Mr.  W.  W.  Rathbone,  of 
Marietta,  Ohio,  is  in  this  business,  and  seed 
from  him  will  do  well  in  every  respect  at  the 
north. 

The  large  potatoes  to  be  found  in  our  city 
markets  every  fall  and  spring  are  not  fit  for 
seed  for  northern  planting,  for  two  reasons  : 
first,  they  are  too  large  and  contain  too  few 
eyes ;  and  secondly,  they  are  usually  of  late 
varieties  which  can  only  be  matured  at  the 
south.  It  takes  about  four  weeks*  time  after 
bedding  the  potatoes  in  spring  to  get  the  first 


32  A    MANUAL    OF 

crop  of  plants,  or  sets  ;  consequently,  if  they 
are  to  be  sprouted  in  manure-beds,  calculations 
must  be  made  to  get  the  bed  in  good  working 
order,  and  ready  to  bed  the  tubers  by  the  mid- 
dle of  April.  This  will  bring  the  first  crop  of 
plants  by  the  middle  of  May  and  the  second 
crop  by  the  first  of  June.  The  first  crop  can 
then  be  pulled  off  and  transplanted  in  another 
bed,  where  they  will  continue  to  grow  so  as 
to  be  stout  and  well  rooted  by  first  of  June. 
There  is  little  if  Anything  to  be  gained  in  set- 
ting them  out  in  the  field  before  that  time,  as 
the  soil  must  be  warm  for  them  to  grow.  The 
forcing-bed  is  made  of  a  layer  of  about  three 
inches  of  a  light,  sandy  loam,  which  is  improved 
by  mixing  with  it  a  quantity  of  light  leaf- 
mould.  On  this  the  potatoes  are  laid  thickly 
in  rows  side  by  side.  Those  over  one  inch  in 
diameter  are  cut  in  two  lengthwise,  and  laid 
with  cut  side  up.  The  bedding  must  be  done 
during  a  warm  sunny  afternoon,  for,  as  we  have 
said,  they  are  easily  chilled,  and  more  easily 
injured  than  would  be  supposed.  They  are 
covered  with  one  and  a  half  or  two  inches  of 
the  same  material  which  underlies  them.  If 
this  soil  can  be  mixed  with  coal-dust,  dry  black 
muck,  or  even  buckwheat  hulls,  it  will  help  to 


VEGETABLE    PLANTS.  33 

loosen  it,  and,  in  addition,  the  sun's  rays  will 
to  a  greater  extent  be  absorbed  on  account  of 
the  dark  color  of  the  surface,  and  the  bed  con- 
sequently be  made  warmer.  It  is  not  neces- 
sary to  cover  these  beds  entirely  with  glass. 
The  shutters,  already  described,  may  be  made 
to  do  good  service  here,  and  the  amount  of 
glass  at  command  made  to  go  twice  as  far. 
The  plants  should  not  be  pulled  until  they 
are  quite  well  rooted,  and  if  they  can  then  be 
transplanted  into  another  bed  for  a  couple  of 
weeks,  they  will  be  greatly  improved,  though 
few  of  the  sweet-potato  plants  offered  for  sale 
are  transplanted.  Care  must  be  exercised  in 
pulling,  or  separating  the  plant  from  the  tuber, 
not  to  displace  the  tuber  or  break  off  the  sprouts 
which  may  have  started  for  a  second  crop. 

As  this  work  may  fall  into  the  hands  of 
many  readers  who  may  desire  to  try  growing  a 
few  sweet  potatoes  at  the  north,  a  few  words 
on  the  subject  of  setting  the  plants,  and  the 
treatment  of  them,  though  hardly  within  the 
scope  of  the  work,  may  not  be  entirely  out 
of  place.  Never  lose  sight  of  the  fact  that 
the  sweet  potato  is,  by  nature,  a  semi-tropical 
plant ;  therefore  everything  you  can  do  to  in- 


34  A    MANUAL    OF 

crease  the  warmth  of  the  soil  in  which  it  is 
grown  should  be  done. 

When  the  plants  are  ready,  and  the  season 
far  enough  advanced  for  setting  them,  do  not 
wait  for  a  rain,  but  proceed  with  the  work. 
Never  think  of  setting  them  on  level — that  is, 
unridged — ground,  but  after  thoroughly  plough- 
ing and  manuring  the  soil,  ridge  it  up  in  high, 
narrow  ridges.  A  gravelly  loam  is  best,  and, 
as  we  have  said  of  the  soil  for  the  propagating 
beds,  if  it  can  be  mixed  with  coal-dust,  black 
muck,  or  some  other  loosening,  dark-colored 
material,  which  will  not  only  enliven  the  soil, 
but  by  its  color  absorb  more  of  the  sun's  rays, 
it  will  help  matters  wonderfully. 

The  ridges  are  now  slightly  levelled  off  at 
top,  and  will  be  found  in  fine  order  for  setting 
the  plants,  which  is  easily  done  by  the  hand, 
on  the  ridges,  at  the  distance  of  about  eighteen 
inches  apart  The  rows,  or  centres  of  ridges, 
should  be  three  feet  apart,  so  that  horse  culti- 
vation can  be  given.  These  ridges  are  not  to 
be  worked  down  in  after-cultivation,  but  left 
with  straight  or  nearly  perpendicular  sides,  so 
that  the  sun  can  warm  them  through.  If  set 
on  the  level  surface,  the  vines  will  grow  luxu- 
riantly enough,  but  will  shade  the  soil  and 


VEGETABLE    PLANTS.  35 

keep  it  too  cool  to  produce  good  tubers.  With 
the  above  system  of  cultivation,  and  a  selec- 
tion of  early  varieties,  we  believe  that  the 
sweet  potato  is  capable  of  being  grown  with 
profit  even  as  far  north  as  central  and  western 
New  York.  A  soil  containing  a  large  pro- 
portion of  coarse  gravel-stones,  with  a  general 
tendency  to  sandiness,  we  have  found  far  pref- 
erable for  growing  good  specimens  of  sweet 
potatoes  to  one  whose  base  is  clay. 


PART  SECOND. 


PLANTS  IN  THE   OPEN  GROUND. 

CABBAGE  PLANTS. — One  of  the  most  diffi- 
cult and  vexing  parts  of  all  garden  operations 
is  to  secure  a  good  supply  of  healthy,  growing 
plants.  Indeed,  after  this  feat  is  accomplished, 
if  the  soil  is  sufficiently  enriched,  in  the  right 
mechanical  condition,  and  the  proper  cultiva- 
tion given,  there  is  little  left  for  a  man  to  do 
but  to  harvest  a  bountiful  crop. 

Nine  tenths  of  the  failures  in  this  branch  of 
business  are  directly. assignable  to  some  mis- 
management in  the  first  stages  of  the  plants' 
growth,  and  as  in  all  animal  nature,  a  disease  or 
injury  contracted  in  infancy,  though  perhaps 
for  a  long  time  latent,  may  finally  develop  into 
•complete  ruin.  The  general  ignorance  which 
exists  throughout  this  country  on  the  subject 
of  insects  and  diseases  from  which  the  cabbage 
.is  liable  to  destruction,  may  be  inferred  when 


A    MANUAL    OF    VEGETABLE     PLANTS.          37 

we  state  that  our  sales  of  cabbage  plants  to 
market  gardeners  and  planters  have  ranged  to 
upwards  of  eight  hundred  thousand  in  a  single 
spring.  Nearly  all  the  purchasers  of  these,  at 
least  all  those  who  bought  in  large  quantities, 
would  have  grown  their  own  plants,  had  they 
been  satisfied  that  they  could  have  produced 
as  good  and  healthy  plants  at  home  as  they 
received  from  us.  In  some  seasons^  (the  pres- 
ent, 1877,  being  a  remarkable  one  in  this  re- 
spect) every  thing  will  be  so  favorable  that  in 
many  localities  plants  in  abundance  can  be 
grown  by  mere  chance,  nothing  happening  to 
attack  them  to  their  detriment.  But  this 
chance  cannot  be  depended  upon  safely,  for  in 
a  majority  of  instances  it  will  simply  result  in 
failure.  In  how  many  thousands  of  instances 
does  a  man's  experience  culminate  somewhat 
as  follows: 

A  man  desires  to  raise  a  field  of  cabbage. 
He  first  consults  all  the  seed  catalogues  and 
works  on  gardening  in  his  possession,  to  ac- 
quaint himself  with  the  best  varieties  for  his 
particular  purpose.  Having  made  his  selec- 
tion, he  dispatches  a  dollar  or  two  to  some 
seedsman  of  his  acquaintance,  for  his  supply 
of  fresh  seeds.  He  now  begins  to  see  difncul- 


38  A    MANUAL   OF 

ties  looming  up  in  the  distance.  He  knows 
by  past  experience  that  if  he  sows  the  seeds 
upon  the  open  ground,  an  arch-enemy  awaits 
the  coming  of  the  tender  plants,  in  the  shape 
of  a  small  flea-beetle.  There  are  several  varie- 
ties of  this  insect,  the  most  destructive  to 
cabbage,  and  in  fact  to  all  the  Brassica,  family, 
being  the  Haltica  Striolata,  or  striped-backed 
flea-beetle,^  whose  ravages,  if  not  suppressed  at 
once,  will  finally  end  with  complete  destruc- 
tion to  the  plant.  He  therefore  follows  a 
time-honored,  but  senseless,  custom,  and  seeks 
to  escape  this  enemy  by  building  a  seed-bed 
up  a  few  feet  from  the  ground,  on  stilts,  as  it 
were,  and  by  constant  watchfulness,  coupled 
with  frequent  applications  of  lime  and  plaster- 
dust,  he  partially  succeeds ;  and  although  his 
plants  are  badly  spotted  by  the  "  little  bugs," 
he  keeps  them  alive,  and  by  frequent  waterings 
causes  them  to  make  a  spindling  growth  until 
nearly  large  enough  to  transplant.  Of  course 
he  boasts  of  his  success,  and  upon  the  first 
rainy  day  prepares  for  the  transplanting  into 
his  field.  But  what  is  his  dismay  upon  pulling 
the  first  handful  to  find,  instead  of  the  nice 
fibrous  roots  seen  in  his  imagination,  and 
which  he  knows  should  exist  on  healthy  plants, 


VEGETABLE    PLANTS.  39 

but  one  long,  straight  tap-root,  which  for 
moisture  has  run  down  to  the  very  bottom  of 
the  bed,  and  perhaps  already  terminates  in  a 
ball  of  fungous  growth,  which  shows  that  the 
dreaded  "  club  -  root "  is  already  asserting  its 
claims !  Upon  a  closer  inspection,  he  finds  the 
fibres  have  been  eaten  off  by  a  small  white 
maggot,  numbers  of  which  can  be  found  bur- 
rowing into  the  remaining  root,  and  maiming 
it  until  it  can  scarcely  be  made  to  live  at  all. 
There  is  but  one  wise  and  safe  course  left  for 
him  to  follow — which  is,  to  condemn  the  whole 
lot,  and  depend  for  his  supply  of  plants  upon 
purchasing  of  some  one  who  understands  the 
management  of  these  difficulties  and  is  glad  to 
take  advantage  of  these  misfortunes  to  increase 
his  own  profits  by  selling  him  well-grown, 
healthy  plants. 

This  picture  is  not  overdrawn.  Hundreds 
of  men  have  come  to  us  to  rehearse  the  sub- 
stance of  the  above,  evidently  thinking  such 
troubles  were  unknown  to  us,  as  we  always  had 
a  supply  of  plants  which  had  an  abundance  of 
roots,  and  proved  to  remain  healthy  when 
transported  to  other  grounds.  Indeed,  from 
the  many  failures  which  are  continually  being 
reported  to  us  in  this  direction,  we  have  come  to 


4<3  A    MANUAL    OF 

believe  that  not  more  than  one  half  the  cabbage 
seeds  sold  in  this  country  ever  produce  plants 
which  live  to  become  of  sufficient  size  for  set- 
ting in  the  field.  The  main  crop  of  cabbage  is 
produced  from  plants  which  are  set  during 
June  and  July,  and  at  this  hot  season  of  the  year 
it  is  with  considerable  difficulty  that  plants 
can  be  conveyed  by  express  long  distances, 
even  with  packing  carefully  ;  and  the  carrier's 
charges  are  so  high,  that  on  purchased  plants 
the  first  cost  is  frequently  doubled  or  even 
trebled  by  the  time  they  reach  the  planter. 

Knowing  all  these  difficulties,  we  hope  and 
trust  that  every  purchaser  of  this  work  will  be 
abundantly  satisfied  by  our  showing  him  how 
to  overcome  and  remedy  them,  inasmuch  as 
we  do  it  at  the  risk  of  decreasing  our  own 
plant  trade.  Now,  in  order  to  come  at  this 
subject  understandingly  to  our  readers,  we  shall 
have  to  follow  it  up  in  a  sort  of  backward  way, 
after  stating  that  the  three  evils  above  pic- 
tured— viz.,  Chib-root,  White  Maggot,  and 
Flea-beetle — are  dependent  upon  each  other,  in 
the  order  named,  for  their  own  existence. 

CLUB-ROOT  is  an  unnatural  enlargement,  of 
a  spongy  or  fungoid  character,  of  the  root  of 
the  plant.  It  is  not  confined  to  the  cabbage, 


VEGETABLE    PLANTS.  4! 

but  is  frequently  developed  in  cauliflowers, 
turnips,  and  indeed  in  all  the  members  of  the 
Brassica  or  cabbage  family.  So  far  as  our 
knowledge  extends,  there  is  no  cure  for  this 
malady ;  for  after  it  makes  its  appearance  upon 
a  plant,  it  increases  in  size  until  it  so  seriously 
affects  the  circulation  of  the  sap,  that  the 
plant  wilts,  turns  yellow,  and  finally  dies — a 
slow  death,  but  one  as  sure  as  that  of  an  animal 
on  which  a  vampire  has  settled  and  sucked  its 
life-blood  away.  But  we  believe  there  is  a 
prevention,  which  is  infinitely  better  than  the 
best  of  cures,  for  a  cure  must  be  preceded  by  an 
attack  of  the  disease,  which  cannot  take  place 
without  injury.  So  far  as  our  extended  obser- 
vations have  shown,  the  enlargement  called 
club  -  root  is  primarily  caused  by  the  root 
being  mutilated  by  an  insect.  There  may  be 
different  insects  capable  of  bringing  about 
the  same  result,  if  each  burrow  into  and  mu- 
tilate the  root  in  the  same  manner  and  to  the 
same  extent ;  but  allowing  this  to  be  the  case, 
it  will  readily  be  admitted  that  the  one  that  is 
the  most  common  cause,  the  one  that  is  cul- 
pable in  the  main,  is  the  one  which  most  se- 
riously engages  our  attention.  This  we  believe 
to  be  none  other  than 


42  A    MANUAL    OF 

THE  CABBAGE  MAGGOT. — This  is  the  same 
little  miscreant  which  we  have  already  alluded 
to,  which  gets  into  the  plant-beds  and  eats  the 
fibrous  roots  off  the  growing  plants,  leaving 
^only  the  one  tap-root,  which,  in  order  to  make 
a  desperate  effort  to  sustain  the  plant  alone, 
runs  down  two  or  three  times  its  natural 
length,  and,  if  it  be  fortunate  enough  to  escape 
the  fungoid  Chtb-root,  may  put  out  new  fibres 
from  its  sides,  after  being  removed  from  the 
vicinity  of  its  parasitic  enemies,  the  maggots. 
But  the  chances  are  against  it ;  the  Fates  have 
thrown  their  arms  around  it,  and,  in  the  major- 
ity of  instances,  its  future  course  is  downward, 
its  doom  is  sealed. 

"Well,"  once  exclaimed  a  well-informed 
market-gardener,  who  is  certainly  a  closer 
reasoner  upon  most  subjects  than  the  habits  of 
insects,  "  when  your  soil  gets  as  full  of  those 
little  white  worms  as  mine  is,  you  will  have  to 
stop  growing  cabbage  plants."  And,  indeed, 
he  is  not  the  only  man  who  has  fallen  into  the 
error  of  supposing,  or  taking  it  for  granted, 
that  because  these  worms  make  their  appear- 
ance in  his  plant-beds  that  they  previously 
existed  in  his  soil  as  naturally  as  "  angle-worms," 
and  that  to  escape  their  ravages  he  must  find 


VEGETABLE    PLANTS.  43 

some  spot  where  they  are  not  in  the  soil,  or 
"  burn  them  out "  by  building  a  large  fire  upon 
the  spot  to  be  occupied !  Misguided  mortal! 
Does  he  forget  that  "  where  the  carrion  is  there 
will  the  ravens  be "  ?  that  it  is  Nature's  law 
to  place  her  subjects,  great  or  small,  where  the 
food  and  surroundings  are  congenial  to  them  ? 
Is  it  not  easier  to  suppose  that  these  little 
worms  or  maggots  are  bred  upon  the  roots  of 
the  plant  which  is  most  suitable  to  their  life 
and  purposes  ?  Such  we  find  to  be  the  case, 
not  merely  in  theory,  but  in  proven  fact. 

This  brings  us  to  the  question,  From  whence 
do  they  come  ? — a  question  easily  answered. 
Why  a  question  so  easily  solved  should  remain 
so  long  in  the  dark,  or  why  an  answer  so 
easily  suspected  should  escape  a  single  ob- 
serving mortal,  we  cannot  conjecture ;  but 
such  has  been  the  case.  Can  the  reader 
think  of  many  instances  in  which  any  species 
of  maggots  are  reproductive  in  themselves  ? 
In  other  words,  does  a  worm  lay  an  egg  to 
produce  a  worm  ?  Such  is  not  the  rule  in  the 
insect  world. 

There  are  three  phases  to  most  insect  life. 
First,  the  perfect  insect,  which  is  generally  a 
winged  insect — a  fly,  a  bug,  a  beetle,  or  a  mil- 


44  A    MANUAL    OF 

ler  or  moth.  This  knows  by  instinct  an  appro- 
priate place  to  nourish  its  young,  and  only  in 
such  places  does  it  lay  its  eggs.  The  eggs 
hatch  and  bring  forth  worms,  or  maggots. 
The  honey-bee  lays  hers  within  the  cells  of 
her  hive,  and  her  subjects  go  forth  into  the 
fields  and  gather  nectar  for  their  sustenance. 
The  skipper-fly  selects  for  her  breeding  ground 
the  crevices  of  a  rich  old  cheese,  and  depends 
upon  its  strength  and  substance  for  support. 
Should  either  lack  the  God-given  instinct 
which  enables  it  to  select  a  congenial  spot,  its 
species  would  become  extinct. 

We  are  now  ready  for  the  information  that 
the  parent  of  our  little  cabbage  maggot  is  none 
other  than  one  to  whom  we  have  already  been 
introduced,  the  STRIPED  FLEA-BEETLE.  There- 
fore, if  we  would  escape  the  maggot,  and 
through  it  the  club-root,  we  must,  from  the 
beginning,  keep  our  plants  free  from  the 
attacks  of  these  voracious  plant-eaters,  the 
striped  flea-beetles.  They  are  very  destructive 
to  the  young  plants  of  the  cabbage  family,  are 
known  by  various  names,  such  as  t^^,rn^p-fly, 
radish-fly,  etc.,  but  more  properly  as  Haltica 
S trio  la  ta,  or  flea-beetle. 

There  are  two  species  very  common  in  this 


VEGETABLE    PLANTS,  45 

country,  one  being  entirely  black  and  one 
having  two  bright  golden  or  yellow  stripes 
upon  his  back.  Their  habits  are  similar. 
When  approached  they  will  spring  from  the 
plant  in  a  true  flea-like  manner,  and,  if  in 
imagined  danger,  feign  inanimation  in  a  'pos- 
sum-like manner.  This  trait  of  their  character 
may  readily  be  taken  advantage  of  by  cooping 
in  the  vicinity  of  the  beds  a  hen  which  has  a 
good  brood  of  chickens  old  enough  to  run 
freely  among  the  plants.  The  chicks  soon 
learn  the  trick,  and  make  a  reality  of  the  feint 
of  death  by  relentlessly  swallowing  all  of  them 
which  come  within  their  reach ;  and  as  by 
constantly  running  amongst  the  plants  they 
continually  scare  them  off,  we  have  never  dis- 
covered a  better  remedy  for  beds  already 
infested  with  them  than  this ;  and  were  the 
simple  eating  of  the  plants  the  extent  of  the 
mischief  of  which  they  are  capable,  this  rem- 
edy, with  perhaps  an  occasional  sprinkling  of 
plaster,  carbolic  powder,  soot,  or  any  thing 
distasteful  or  injurious  to  them,  would  be  all 
the  remedy  to  be  desired.  But  as  we  have 
shown  that  the  amount  they  eat  is  nothing  in 
comparison  to  the  damage  following  the  lay- 
ing of  their  eggs,  with  the  attendant  results, 


46  A    MANUAL    OF 

you  will  at  once  see  the  importance  of  keeping 
the  seed  leaves  unspotted  by  their  greedy  jaws. 
In  order  to  accomplish  this,  it  is  necessary  to 
consider  that  the  maggot,  after  becoming  full- 
grown,  changes  into  the  pupa  state,  and  re- 
mains in  the  ground  for  about  two  weeks, 
when  it  again  comes  forth  to  continue  its 
depredations  upon  the  plant,  which  by  this 
time  has  grown  so  large  as  not  to  be  seriously 
injured  by  being  slightly  eaten.  So  they  con- 
tinue to  infest  plants  of  the  cabbage  family 
until  fall ;  and  the  last  litter  for  the  season 
remaining  dormant  in  the  pupa  state  over 
winter,  come  forth  perfect  beetles  during  the 
first  warm  days  of  spring,  ready  to  attack  the 
first  tender  plants  which  appear. 

OUR  PREVENTIVE  will  now  be  readily  under- 
stood by  every  careful  reader.  By  knowing 
where  these  pests  are  to  abound — which  is 
wherever  there  was  a  quantity  of  cabbage,  tur- 
nips, radishes,  mustard,  or  any  plant  which  they 
infest,  growing  during  the  preceding  summer 
and  fall — there  in  early  spring  may  \ve  look  for 
the  fleas,  and  as  far  from  there  as  possible 
must  we  sow  our  cabbage  and  kindred  seeds. 
But  the  insects  have  wings,  and  will  they  not 
go  to  our  beds  as  soon  as  the  plants  are  up  ? 


VEGETABLE    PLANTS.  47 

This  is  just  what  we  must  prevent  them 
from  doing — a  task  more  easily  accomplished 
than  may  be  imagined.  We  know  almost  the 
exact  spot  from  which  they  will  come  out  of 
the  ground,  so  our  first  care  must  be  to  pro- 
vide food  for  them  and  keep  them  there.  For 
this  purpose  we  sow,  on  the  ground  which  was 
occupied  the  previous  summer  with  cabbage 
and  turnips,  as  early  in  spring  as  possible,  a 
mixture  of  cabbage,  turnip,  and  mustard  seeds. 
These  may  be  any  old,  mixed,  or  doubtful 
seeds,  which  are  always  accumulating,  and  are 
of  no  particular  value.  Cheap  imported  cab- 
bage seeds  will  here  answer  an  excellent  pur- 
pose, as  their  only  use  is  for  biig  food,  and  after 
serving  their  purpose,  are  to  be  ploughed  under 
before  they  breed  a  second  crop.  Of  course, 
we  must  expect  an  instalment  of  bugs  or  fleas 
from  our  neighbors'  grounds,  if  we  do  not  pre- 
vent their  coming  in  some  way. 

By  sowing  our  seeds,  as  we  have  shown, 
upon  soil  and  in  a  vicinity  not  occupied  the 
previous  season  by  any  vegetation  of  the  kind, 
we  have  to  contend  with  no  fleas  except  those 
which  come  from  other  quarters.  Let  us  now 
inquire  what  causes  them  to  come,  or  how 
they  are  enabled  to  find  our  young  plants. 


48  A  MANUAL' OF 

Nature  has  furnished  them  with  but  one 
mode  of  accomplishing  this,  and  that  is  by  the 
sense  of  smell.  It  then  follows,  that  if  we  in 
some  manner  destroy  or  change  the  natural 
smell  of  the  young  plants  which  we  wish  to 
protect,  no  further  trouble  will  result.  This 
must  be  done  by  creating  some  other  smell 
powerful  enough  to  overcome  the  scent  of  the 
cabbage  plant.  There  are  several  ways  of 
accomplishing  this.  Turpentine,  mixed  with 
dry  plaster,  and  sprinkled  upon  the  plants  as 
soon  as  they  come  up,  and  repeated  as  often  as 
it  ceases  to  send  out  its  peculiar  scent,  will 
often  effectually  keep  them  away.  Coal-tar, 
which  can  be  bought  at  the  gas-works  for 
$2.50  per  barrel,  has  a  very  strong,  disagreea- 
ble smell,  and  is  probably  as  cheap  as  any  thing 
which  will  answer  this  purpose.  It  is  not 
necessary  to  put  it  directly  on  the  plants.  If 
a  few  quarts  are  spread  upon  boards  and 
placed  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  the  young 
plants  it  will  completely  hide  the  scent  of  the 
cabbage,  and  but  an  occasional  chance  bug 
will  find  them,  especially  if  the  bugs  are  fur- 
nished with  an  abundance  of  food  elsewhere, 
as  described  above.  Remember,  the  idea  is 
not  to  let  them  come  on  the  plants,  and  then 


VEGETABLE    PLANTS.  49 

try  to  drive  them  o,ff  by  applying  something 
distasteful  to  them  ;  but  apply  the  remedy 
even  before  the  plants  are  up,  to  screen  them 
so  they  will  never  be  found.  In  addition  to 
these  precautions,  every  thing  possible  should 
be  done  in  the  way  of  preparing  the  seed-bed, 
and  using  fertilizers  that  will  cause  the  plants 
to  come  up  stout  and  healthy,  with  large,  green 
seed-leaves,  and  keep  them  in  condition  to 
grow  as  rapidly  as  possible,  so  the  third  leaf 
may  come  out  before  a  bug  shall  find  them. 

After  the  third  leaf  has  made  its  appearance 
there  is  generally  but  little  danger  of  an 
attack,  especially  if  there  is  a  supply  of  younger 
plants  provided  for  them  in  the  neighborhood. 
The  first,  or  seed-leaves,  of  the  cabbage  are  all 
the  bugs  seem  to  have  any  special  liking  for. 
They  will,  however,  usually  hang  to  a  mustard 
plant  nearly  all  summer,  so  we  usually  sow  a 
good-sized  patch  of  the  white  or  French  mus- 
tard for  their  special  benefit.  We  frequently 
use  the  same  ground  for  raising  plants  two  or 
more  years  in  succession,  and  find  that  if  we 
clear  every  trace  of  cabbage  from  it  as  soon  as 
the  plant  season  is  over,  but  few  bugs  will  be 
found  in  the  vicinity  the  following  spring. 

As  these  assertions  are  at  variance  with  the 


5O  A    MANUAL    OF 

writings  of  other  authors  who  have  written 
upon  these  subjects,  our  readers  may  desire  to 
know  what  proof  we  can  present  to  sustain 
them.  Well,  these  are  the  principles  upon 
which  we  have  worked  for  the  past  ten  years, 
during  which  time  we  have  grown,  annually, 
hundreds  of  thousands  of  plants.  Never,  dur- 
ing all  this  time,  have  we  seen  a  single  case  of 
club-root  developed  upon  a  plant  which  had 
not  first  been  mutilated  in  its  roots  by  the  cab- 
bage maggot,  and  never  have  we  discovered  a 
trace  of  the  maggot  in  the  roots  of  plants 
which  had  not  first  been  severely  worked  upon 
by  the  flea-beetles. 

On  the  other  hand,  never  have  we  had  a 
bed  of  plants  severely  attacked  by  the  beetles 
or  fleas  that  was  not  subsequently  injured  by 
the  maggot ;  and  further,  never  have  we  yet 
seen  a  maggot  in  the  root,  or  the  slightest  ten- 
dency towards  the  development  of  club-root, 
on  a  plant,  or  plot  of  plants,  which  had  been 
absolutely  protected  from  the  flea-beetles. 
Although  strong,  this  of  course  is  only  circum- 
stantial evidence.  We  have  taken  a  lot  of 
these  maggots  from  a  bed  badly  infested  with 
them,  put  them  into  a  glass  cage,  and  kept 
them  until  they  developed  into  perfect  little 


VEGETABLE    PLANTS.  51 

flea-beetles,  which  is  as  strong  proof  as  we  are 
now  able  to  present.  The  closest  observers 
agree  that  club-root  is  caused  by  a  little  worm 
boring  into  the  root.  Why  not,  then,  as  soon 
lay  the  mischief  to  this  little  maggot  as  any 
other,  inasmuch  as  it  is  more  frequently  found 
here  than  any  other  worm.  We  do  not  doubt 
but  that  there  are  other  maggots,  the  larvae  of 
other  insects  than  the  flea-beetle,  which  are 
capable  of  producing  the  same  effect,  but  we 
do  believe  this  to  be  the  most  common  cause 
and  the  one  most  to  be  guarded  against.  We 
are  aware  that  altogether  a  different  code  of 
habits  has  been  given  these  insects  by  promi- 
nent entomologists  and  writers  upon  this  sub- 
ject, and  desire  to  quote  a  few  passages,  that 
the  reader  may  be  led  to  experiment  until 
satisfied  who  is  right.  Hon.  Asa  Fitch,  in  his 
"Eleventh  Report  of  the  Noxious,  Beneficial 
and  other  Insects  of  the  State  of  New  York," 
which  was  published  in  the  Twenty-sixth 
Annual  Report  of  the  State  Agricultural  Soci- 
ety, in  writing  of  the  cabbage  maggot  makes 
the  following  statement : 

"  It  lies  dormant  in  the  ground  about  a  fort- 
night in  its  pupa  state,  and  then  gives  out  the 
perfect  insect,  which  is  a  two-winged  fly  resem- 


52  A    MANUAL    OF 

bling  the  common  house-fly,  but  somewhat 
smaller  in  size,  measuring  0.20  in  length  to 
the  end  of  its  body  and  0.26  to  the  tip  of 

the   closed   wings This    cabbage 

fly  is  so  closely  related  to  the  onion  fly,  that 
the  same  remarks  made  respecting  the  reme- 
dies for  that  species  .will  apply  equally  well  to 
this."  In  speaking  of  the  striped  flea-beetle,  in 
the  same  Report,  he  describes  certain  "  crooked 
marks"  to  be  seen  upon  the  leaves  of  cabbage 
and  turnip  plants,  and  says  :  "  These  marks  are 
really  produced  by  minute  worms  living  in  the 
interior  of  the  leaves,  feeding  upon  their  green 
pulpy  substance,  and  leaving  the  skin  unbro- 
ken, mining  a  serpentine  track,  which  increases 
in  thickness  as  the  worm  grows  to  a  larger 
size.  These  worms  are  the  larvae  of  the  flea- 
beetles,  which  make  most  of  these  marks, 
which  occur  in  the  turnip  and  other  leaves 
in  the  garden." 

It  is  but  justice  to  state  that  this  fallacy — 
for  we  have  proved  it  to  be  such — did  not 
originate  with  Mr.  Fitch,  but  is  credited  as 
being  a  new  and  valuable  discovery,  made  by  a 
Mr.  Le  Keux,  a  member  of  the  Entomological 
Society  of  London.  But  Mr.  Fitch  heartily 
endorses  it,  and  so  it  has  been  handed  down 


VEGETABLE    PLANTS.  53 

and  accepted  as  a  truth  among  the  entomo- 
logical fraternity.  We  think  the  error  has 
continued  long  enough  for  the  good  of  the 
cabbage,  turnip,  and  radish  growers  of  our 
country,  so  we  have  given  our  own  opinions 
freely  upon  the  subject,  and  will  await  the 
decisions  of  careful  experimenters  as  to  the 
correctness  of  our  views. 

THE  RADISH  MAGGOT. — Mr.  Fitch,  in  the 
Report  above  alluded  to,  lays  the  parentage  of 
this  well-known  worm  to  a  different  fly  from 
the  one  which  he  thinks  produces  the  cabbage 
maggot.  In  our  opinion — which  is  founded 
upon  practice  and  careful  observations — it  is 
the  same,  neither  being  the  product  of  a  "  fly 
resembling  a  house-fly,"  but  both  emanating 
from  the  eggs  of  the  striped  flea-beetle.  We 
do  not  say  that  there  is  no  other  fly  in  exist- 
ence whose  eggs  produce  worms  which  feed 
upon  the  roots  of  either  cabbage  or  radish. 
There  may  be  such  an  insect,  but  we  have 
never  seen  it.  We  write  only  of  what  we 
know,  not  of  what  may  exist  beyond  our 
knowledge.  Our  experience  has  been  with 
radishes  the  same  as  with  cabbages. 

Whenever  we  have  kept  the  young  radish 
plants  entirely  free  from  the  ravages  of  the 


54  A    MANUAL    OF 

fleas,  and  had  them  on  loose,  rich  ground, 
where  they  could  grow  rapidly,  we  have  invari- 
ably had  splendid  tender  radishes,  without  a 
trace  of  worms  ;  but  when  the  young  plants 
were  badly  eaten  by  the  fleas,  we  always  found 
worms  in  the  roots — unless  it  might  be  with 
early  varieties,  whose  growth  was  forced  so 
rapidly  that  the  worms  had  not  time  to  show 
themselves  before  the  radishes  were  pulled. 
We  have  said  that  this  insect  winters  in  the 
pupa  state — meaning  that  they  usually  do  so ; 
but  we  think  the  perfect  insects  also  frequently 
live  through  the  winter  in  a  dormant  state,  as 
they  make  their  appearance  very  early  in  the 
spring. 

The  same  methods  given  for  protecting 
cabbage  plants  will  apply  to  radishes  with 
equal  force.  Where  but  a  small  bed  of  plants 
is  to  be  grown,  a  method  probably  as  cheap, 
and  of  as  little  trouble  as  any,  will  be  to 
sow  early,  and  protect  the  bed  a  great  part  of 
the  time,  while  the  plants  are  young,  with  a 
covering  of  glass  sash  or  cloth.  But  it  will  be 
found  vastly  more  difficult  to  raise  a  small  bed 
of  plants  and  keep  them  healthy  and  free  from 
insects,  than  to  grow  them  on  a  large  scale. 
It  will  also  be  found  cheaper  for  a  man  who 


VEGETABLE    PLANTS.  55 

wants  but  a  few  hundred  or  thousand  cabbage 
plants  to  purchase  them  of  some  one  who 
grows  them  largely,  than  to  attempt  to  grow 
his  own.  During  the  season  just  passed,  we 
furnished  our  customers  who  came  to  the, beds 
with  as  fine,  healthy,  well-rooted  plants  as  they 
could  desire,  and  of  the  best  varieties,  at  $1.50 
per  thousand.  Who  could  think  of  preparing 
his  bed,  purchasing  his  seed,  and  producing  a 
single  thousand  for  that  money  ? 

If  it  be  found  impossible  to  keep  the  fleas 
entirely  off,  on  account  of  neglecting  some  of 
the  precautions  \vhich  we  have  given,  the  best 
manner  of  overcoming  the  injuries  likely  to  be 
developed  is  to  keep  the  plants -growing  as 
thriftily  as  possible,  from  the  time  the  seed 
leaves  are  opened  until  the  head  is  formed,  as  it 
frequently  happens  that  \vhere  the  plants  are 
not  badly  infested  with  fleas,  the  diseases  re- 
sulting therefrom  will  be  comparatively  slight. 

THE  USE  OF  LIME  upon  ground  occupied 
by  cabbage  is  commonly  regarded  as  beneficial, 
many  growers  having  noticed  that  club-root 
is  less  likely  to  be  developed  where  lime  is  a 
plentiful  constituent  of  the  soil.  The  reason 
for  this  is  obvious :  the  strong  alkali  is  very 
destructive  to  the  maggots,  and  keeps  them  in 


56  A    MANUAL    OF 

check.  Wood  ashes  are,  for  the  same  reason, 
one  of  the  best  fertilizers  for  all  this  class  of 
plants.  Beautiful  turnips  and  radishes  may  be 
grown  on  a  newly  cleared  fallow  with  scarcely 
a  tratce  of  the  maggot.  The  great  amount  of 
potash  contained  in  the  ashes  is  supposed  to 
be  their  most  valuable  element  for  this  use,  as) 
this  class  of  plants,  and  in  fact  all  leguminous 
plants,  require  a  great  amount  of  potash. 

Aside  from  its  alkaline  nature,  lime  has,  in 
our  opinion,  but  little  manurial  value  in  itself. 
Of  course  some  of  its  constituents  enter  into 
the  structure  of  the  plant,  but  its  main  use  or 
value  as  a  manurial  element  consists  in  its 
action  upon  the  vegetable  matter  with  which  it 
comes  in  contact,  its  tendency  being  to  decom- 
pose or  set  free  the  gases  bound  up  in  the  vege- 
table tissue,  and  render  them  available  as  plant 
food.  Therefore,  when  lime  is  used  in  combi- 
nation with  vegetable  manure  or  with  animal 
excrement,  the  mixture  should  always  be  kept 
under  cover  of  the  soil,  that  the  gases  may  be 
held  from  escaping  until  the  plant  absorbs 
them. 

PLASTER  OR  GYPSUM  is  in  its  effects  exactly 
opposite  to  lime.  It  has  a  great  affinity  for 
ammonia,  phosphoric  acid,  and  potash,  and 


VEGETABLE    PLANTS.  57 

readily  absorbs  them,  especially  the  former,  from 
the  atmosphere,  or  from  any  thing  containing 
these  gases  with  which  it  may  chance  to  come 
in  contact.  Plaster,  but  no  lime,  should  there- 
fore be  placed  in  all  composts  or  mixtures  which 
are  to  be  used  as  surface  manures.  The  kind 
of  land  most  likely  to  be  benefited  by  lime  is 
therefore  that  which  already  contains  a  large 
amount  of  muck,  or  any  vegetable  matter. 
Our  best  market-gardeners  generally  apply  lime 
to  their  grounds  the  year  following  a  heavy  ap- 
plication of  stable  manure,  the  first  crop  being 
fed  by  the  parts  of  the  manure  which  are  readily 
soluble,  and  the  lime  serving  to  decompose  the 
residue  for  the  second  year's  use. 

SPECIAL  OR  COMMERCIAL  FERTILIZERS.— 
This  is  a  subject  which  is  commanding  a  great 
amount  of  thought  and  attention  of  late.  There 
being  few  localities  where  an  abundance  of 
stable  manure  can  be  obtained,  the  importance 
of  finding  a  substitute  is  apparent.  The  three 
principal  elements  required  by  the  majority  of 
our  farm  and  garden  crops,  and  which  are  not 
already  to  be  found  in  sufficient  quantities  in 
the  soil,  are  ammonia,  potash,  and  phosphoric 
acid.  Ammonia  most  largely  abounds  in  all 
animal  substances,  all  nitrogenous  bodies.  Pot- 


58  A    MANUAL    OF 

ash  is  largely  found  in  ashes,  and  is  also  ob- 
tained in  large  quantities  for  commercial  use 
from  potash-rock,  which  is  mined  extensively 
in  Germany,  and  also  in  some  parts  of  South 
Carolina.  Phosphoric  acid  is  most  readily  ob- 
tained from  bones,  and  is  the  most  valuable 
constituent  of  the  various  superphosphates  and 
bone  manures  with  which  the  markets  are  filled. 

The  exact  proportion  of  each  of  these  ingre- 
dients which  is  required  for  perfecting  any  of 
our  farm  or  garden  crops  is  readily  ascertained 
by  analysis.  It  seems,  therefore,  that  it  would 
be  an  easy  matter  to  compound  a  special  fer- 
tilizer which  should  be  exactly  adapted  to  any 
plant  or  crop.  And  this  course  is  strongly  ad- 
vocated by  many  eminent  agriculturists  at  the 
present  day.  We  have  not  in  practice  gone 
farther  in  this  direction  than  to  compound  these 
elements  into  a  fertilizer  which  we  have  used 
upon  a  general  line  of  field  and  garden  crops. 
The  use  of  such  a  fertilizer  has  been  attended 
with  varying  results  upon  the  different  crops, 
some  being  particularly  gratifying. 

The  largest  mixture  of  this  kind  which  we 
have  yet  used,  we  will  give,  not  as  a  pattern  for 
others  to  follow,  but  to  furnish  an  idea  of  the  sub- 
stances and  proportions  which  we  deemed  ne- 


VEGETABLE    PLANTS.  59 

cessary  in  a  special  or  general  fertilizer.  First 
we  obtained  one  ton  of  fine  diy  hen  manure, 
this,  at  $20  per  ton,  being  our  cheapest  source 
of  ammonia.  Next,  one  ton  of  muriate  of  pot- 
ash, at  $50.  Third,  one  ton  of  fine  dissolved 
bone,  at  §35.  These  three  substances  were 
finely  compounded,  and  mixed  with  three  tons 
of  gypsum  or  plaster.  One  or  two  barrels  of 
this  mixture  per  acre,  sowed  upon  wheat  in 
early  spring,  gave,  upon  a  piece  of  old  land, 
where  oats  the  previous  year  were  scarcely 
worth  harvesting,  the  most  bountiful  yield  we 
ever  grew.  Twice  that  quantity  sowed  upon 
a  piece  of  ground  which  had  not  received  a 
coating  of  stable  manure  in  fifteen  years,  gave 
us  as  rank  a  growth  of  cabbage  plants  as  we 
desire  to  see.  We  seldom  venture  the  experi- 
ment of  putting  such  manures  in  the  hill,  but 
always  prefer  sowing  broadcast,  and  lightly  har- 
rowing in. 

But  users  of  these  concentrated  commercial 
fertilizers  must  ,not  for  a  moment  think  that 
they  are  going  to  entirely  take  the  place  or  per- 
form the  functions  of  stable  manure.  They 
will  not.  The  amount  of  soluble  plant  food 
contained  in  a  load  of  stable  manure  is  by  no 
means  the  extent  of  its  value.  The  mechanical 


6O  A    MANUAL    OF 

action,  the  loosening  and  lightening  influence 
which  the  vegetable  matter  has  upon  our 
stiff  clay  soils  particularly,  is  of  the  greatest 
importance.  The  strongest  commercial  fertil- 
izer in  the  world,  on  a  stiff,  heavy  clay  soil, 
destitute  of  vegetable  matter,  will  give  very 
meagre  returns.  Ploughing  under  clover  and 
other  green  crops  must  then  be  resorted  to  in 
connection  with  special  manures,  in  order  to 
make  their  use  satisfactory  to  the  planter. 

PREPARING  GROUND  FOR  CABBAGE  PLANTS. 
— From  what  we  have  written,  the  reader  will 
understand  the  reason  for  our  now  saying, 
select  for  your  cabbage  seeds  a  spot  as  far  dis- 
tant from  where  they  have  been  previously 
grown  as  possible.  There  is  scarcely  any  pos- 
sible preparation,  for  either  a  field  of  cabbage 
or  a  bed  of  growing  plants,  better  than  plough- 
ing under  a  good  heavy  growth  of  large  clover 
the  previous  summer.  The  clover  always  leaves 
the  ground  in  a  loose,  light,  mellow,  healthy 
condition  for  the  following  spring's  work,  so 
that  comparatively  little  stable  manure  will  be 
required.  If  it  is  desired  to  sow  the  cabbage 
seeds  early  in  spring,  we  usually  plough  the 
ground  thoroughly  and  leave  it  in  ridges  the 
fall  previous,  so  that  it  will  more  readily  dry 


VEGETABLE    PLANTS.  6 1 

off  and  become  in  good  working  order  in 
spring.  Then,  as  soon  in  the  spring  as  it  is  in 
fit  condition,  it  is  ploughed  and  harrowed  down 
finely,  and  furrowed  out  in  beds  about  three  and 
a  half  feet  wide.  The  beds  are  then  raked 
down,  or  rather  the  stones  and  lumps  raked  out 
into  the  furrows,  which  leaves  the  ground  very 
nearly  level  again.  There  should,  if  possible, 
be  ditches  enough  left  so  that  the  water  from 
sudden  rains  may  be  carried  off,  otherwise  the 
beds  may  suffer  from  washing  during  the  fre- 
quent rains  which  come  at  this  season.  What- 
ever special  manure  we  are  to  apply  may  be 
sown  upon  the  surface  and  harrowed  in  before 
the  beds  are  furrowed  out,  or,  if  the  quantity 
is  limited  and  we  desire  to  make  it  go  as  far  as 
possible,  it  may  be  sown  upon  the  beds  after 
the  first  raking,  which  is  usually  done  with  a 
four-tined  potato-digging  hook.  It  is  then 
raked  again  with  a  steel-toothed  rake,  care 
being  taken  to  rake  the  small  stones  and  lumps 
to  •  the  surface  by  a  movement  of  the  rake 
lengthwise  of  the  bed,  so  as  not  to  rake  the 
fertilizer  into  the  ditch,  but  to  thoroughly  mix 
it  with  the  surface  soil. 

The  bed  is  then  ready  for  sowing  the  seeds, 
which  is  readily  accomplished  with  a  common 


62  A    MANUAL    OF 

onion  or  turnip  seed-drill.  We  have  used  both 
Matthews'  and  Comstock's  seed-drills,  and 
think  the  former  the  best  instrument  for  sow- 
ing seeds  simply,  and  the  latter  the  best  we 
know  of  that  has  a  cultivator  attachment.  / 
These  machines  will  sow  any  kind  of  seeds, 
from  mustard  up  to  corn  and  peas,  with  much 
more  regularity  than  can  be  done  by  hand,  at 
the  same  time  with  much  greater  rapidity,  and 
with  an  exactness  that  allows  any  given  num- 
ber of  pounds  of  seeds  per  acre  to  be  sown. 
They  cost  from  $8  to  $12  each,  and  can  be  pro- 
cured through  any  seedsman.  With  these  ma- 
chines the  seeds  are  sown  in  drills  lengthwise 
of  the  beds,  four  rows  being  placed  upon  each 
bed.  This  brings  the  rows  about  ten  inches 
apart,  with  a  space  of  one  foot  between  each 
two  beds,  which  is  used  as  a  path. 

Cabbage  seeds  require  but  little  heat  to 
germinate  freely,  and,  if  the  weather  is  favor- 
able, they  should  begin  to  show  themselves  in 
one  week.  We  have  frequently  had  cold 
weather,  and  even  snow,  after  our  earliest  sow- 
ing was  up,  but  never  have  had  them  injured 
by  it.  We  make  our  first  sowings  as  soon  in 
spring  as  we  can  get  the  ground  in  suitable 
condition,  which  is  not  until  from  the  1 2th  to 


VEGETABLE    PLANTS.  63 

25th  of  April  with  us.  We  then  continue  to 
sow  at  intervals  of  one  week  until  the  ist  of 
June,  at  which  date  our  first  out-doors  plants 
are  ready  for  sale  or  transplanting.  We  have 
dwelt  sufficiently  upon  the  importance  as 
well  as  the  manner  of  keeping  the  young 
plants  protected  from  insects.  To  accomplish 
this  will  require  constant  watchfulness,  and  no 
one  should  undertake  the  job  who  has  not  the 
necessary  time  to  enable  him  to  outgeneral  his 
small  but  powerful  enemy. 

CULTIVATION. — The  soil  around  the  young 
plants  should  be  frequently  stirred,  both  for 
the  purpose  of  stimulating  their  growth  and 
destroying  all  weeds  which  make  their  appear- 
ance. 

The  best  hoe  we  have  ever  found  for  this 
purpose  is  easily  made  by  taking  a  piece  of  inch- 
wide  hoop-iron,  say  thirteen  inches  in  length, 
and  grinding  one  of  its  edges  quite  sharp. 
Now  punch  a  couple  of  holes  through  each 
end,  or  one  half  inch  from  each  end,  large 
enough  to  hold  a  shingle-nail  or  a  three-quarter- 
inch  screw.  Next  find  an  old  hoe-handle,  or 
make  one  out  of  a  cast-off  rake's  tail,  and 
fasten  the  end  of  it  securely  into  a  hole  in  the 
centre  of  a  hardwood  block  five  inches  in 


64  A    MANUAL    OF 

length,  making  it  T-shaped.  Now  bend  the 
hoop-iron  at  right  angles  in  two  places,  four 
inches  from  each  end,  making  it  U-shaped,  and 
fit  it  upon  the  cross-piece  on  the  handle,  fast- 
ening it  with  screws  or  nails,  which  pass 
through  the  holes  near  the  ends  of  the  hoop- 
iron,  and  into  the  ends  of  the  cross-piece. 
Fasten  it  at  such  an  angle  that  when  the  hoe- 
handle  is  held  in  the  hands  in  a  natural  posi- 
tion for  hoeing,  the  LI  will  stand  upright. 
Now,  as  this  hoe  is  drawn  along  between  the 
rows  of  cabbage,  it  cuts  and  kills  every  weed, 
and  loosens  the  soil  without  displacing  it,  as  it 
simply  passes  through  the  loop  and  falls  back 
into  position.  This  also  makes  a  very  superior 
onion  weeder.  Of  course  the  dimensions 
given — five  inches,  which  makes  the  width  of 
the  hoe — can  be  varied  at  pleasure,  but  should 
be  somewhat  less  than  the  distance  between 
the  rows  where  it  is  expected  to  be  used. 

TRANSPLANTING. — A  cloudy  or  wet  time  is 
usually  selected  for  transplanting  the  plants 
into  the  field ;  but  if  they  are  good,  tough, 
healthy,  well-rooted  plants,  and  the  soil  con- 
tains the  usual  amount  of  moisture,  as  good 
"  luck "  may  be  had  in  pleasant  weather  as 
during  a  rain.  The  ground  should  be  worked 


VEGETABLE    PLANTS.  65 

up  fine  and  mellow  by  thorough  ploughing  and 
harrowing.  We  usually  set  by  stakes ;  one 
person  dropping  the  plants  on  the  line,  and 
another  following  and  setting  them  with  a 
"  dibher,"  which  is  a  sharp  stick,  eight  inches 
long,  for  making  the  hole  into  which  the  plant 
is  dropped  to  the  right  depth.  They  may  be 
expected  to  wilt  some ;  but,  if  the  soil  is  loose 
and  moist,  not  one  per  cent,  will  die  from 
transplanting,  and  they  will  commence  grow- 
ing sooner,  while  the  ground  will  be  left  in  far 
better  condition  than  it  will  be  after  setting  in, 
or  immediately  after  a  heavy  rain,  as  is  fre- 
quently done.  The  striped  flea-beetle  some- 
times attacks  early  cabbage  plants  after  they 
are  set  in  the  field.  Should  they  do  so,  it  is 
proof  that  they  have  nothing  more  suitable  to 
eat,  and  should  at  once  be  furnished  by  sowing 
seeds  of  turnip,  mustard,  etc.,  in  the  immediate 
vicinity,  at  the  same  time  dusting  the  plants 
with  plaster  or  wood  ashes.  The  fleas  should, 
however,  be  kept  from  finding  the  young  cab- 
bage plants  in  the  manner  so  fully  described 
under  head  of  Striped  Flea-beetle,  and  our 
prevention. 

VARIETIES. — There  are  so  many  varieties  of 
cabbage  in  cultivation,  that  the  inexperienced 


66  A    MANUAL    OF 

planter  is  frequently  at  a  loss  to  know  which 
to  select.  It  is  easy  for  us  to  enumerate  those 
which  usually  give  the  best  satisfaction  in  our 
soil  and  climate,  but  this  information  might  be 
no  criterion  for  people  in  other  localities. 

Under  the  head  of  Early  Varieties,  in  Part 
First  of  this  work,  we  stated  that  we  valued 
Fottler's  Early  Dmmhead  above  every  other 
variety  for  a  general-purpose  cabbage.  We 
will  also  place  it  at  the  head  of  our  list  o£  late 
varieties ;  for,  although  called  early,  if  planted 
late — say  from  25th  of  June  to  loth  of  July  in 
this  latitude — we  have  yet  to  see  its  equal  for 
fall  and  winter  use.  It  has  a  large,  hard,  flat, 
and  beautifully  shaped  head,  which  is  always 
formed  on  a  short  stem.  It  is  very  reliable  for 
heading,  and  has  probably  grown  more  rapidly 
in  public  favor  during  the  past  few  years,  in  this 
vicinity  at  least,  than  any  other  variety.  In 
order  to  ascertain  what  it  would  do  in  other 
localities,  we  made  an  offer  last  fall  to  send  a 
sample  package  of  the  seeds  free  to  any  cab- 
bage-grower who  would  give  it  a  trial  and  re- 
port results.  The  offer  was  published  in  sev- 
eral popular  agricultural  journals,  and  in  re- 
sponse we  received  nearly  five  hundred  appli- 
cations. Nearly  every  State  and  Territory  in 


VEGETABLE    PLANTS.  67 

the  Union  was  included  in  the  list,  and  we  are 
pleased  to  state  that,  so  far  as  received,  the  re- 
ports speak  very  favorably  of  it. 

THE  FLAT  DUTCH,  in  its  different  strains,  is 
by  far  more  widely  and  extensively  cultivated 
throughout    this    country  than  any  other  va- 
riety.    Nearly  every  seed-grower  has  a  partic- 
ular strain  of  this  variety  which  he  claims  to 
be  superior  to  any  to  be  obtained  elsewhere. 
The  truth  is  there  is  little  difference  in  them, 
and    any  one  which    has  been    for   years  se- 
lected   for     seed     purposes,    and    only   those 
which  have  formed  perfect  heads  saved    and 
planted  for  producing  seeds,  will  give  satisfac- 
tion.    English-grown  seeds  of  late  varieties  of 
cabbage  usually  fail  entirely  to  produce  good 
heads  in    this  country,  and  should   never  be 
planted  with  the  expectation  of  obtaining  more 
than  a  good  growth  of  leaves  for  fodder.     We 
attribute  as  a  reason  for  this,  not  that  the  cli- 
mate  is  unfavorable,  for   it  .is  even  better  or 
more    perfectly  adapted  to  the  wants  of  the 
cabbage    than  our  own,  but  to  the  fact  that 
these  imported  seeds  are  usually  very  carelessly 
grown   from  stumps,  refuse    heads,  or   plants 
which  have  failed  to  head  at  all.     The  reason 
for  importing  these  seeds  is  that  they  can  be 


68  A    MANUAL    OF 

procured  for  less  money  than  American-grown 
seeds.     So  a  cheap  article  is  produced  to  meet 
the  demand,  but  in  the  end  it  is  found  to  be 
the  dearest.     If  seed  stock  from  some  of  our 
standard  varieties  should  be  taken  to  Europe 
and  there  carefully  developed,  then  the  finest 
heads  selected    and    seeds  again   grown  from 
them  and  brought  back  to  our  country,  we  be- 
lieve they  would  produce  even  finer  heads  than 
the  original   cabbages   here.     We    base   these 
conclusions   upon  similar  experiments  which 
we  have  made  by  sending  to  Washington  Ter- 
ritory, where   the  climate,  in   the  vicinity  of 
Puget  Sound,  more  nearly  resembles  that  of 
England  than  our  Middle  States.    Still  we  be- 
lieve that  if  propagated    in  these  warm   and 
moist  lacalities  for  a  long  series  of  years,  the 
tendency  would  be  to  ripen  later  and  later  each 
succeeding  year,  until  they  would  become  un- 
fitted  for  our  short   seasons,  as   it  is  a  well- 
known  fact  that-  vegetables  of  any  kind  will 
ripen  sooner  when  the  seeds  are  procured  from 
far  north  than  south  of  the  locality  in  which 
they  are  planted. 

French  grown  cabbage  seeds  seem  to  do 
much  better  with  us  than  English,  but  as 
American  seeds  are  superior  to  either  and  can 


VEGETABLE    PLANTS.  69 

now  be  produced  at  a  cost  low  enough  to  sat- 
isfy any  one,  there  no  longer  remains  even  this 
poor  excuse  for  importing. 

The  Late  Drumhead  is  quite  a  popular  late 
variety.  It  is  later  than  the  Flat  Diitch,  and 
usually  not  so  reliable  for  heading. 

We  this  season  planted  forty-five  early  and 
late  varieties,  in  order  to  ascertain  if  there  were 
any  better  than  those  of  which  we  have 
spoken.  A  casual  observer  would  not  suspect 
that  the  field  contained  more  than  a  half  dozen 
varieties.  Among  the  early  varieties,  the  Little 
Pixie,  Early  Wyman,  Cannon-ball,  Early 
Flat  Dutch,  and  Schweinfurth  Quintal,  ap- 
peared to  possess  more  real  merit  than  any 
others,  except  those  named  on  pages  19  and 
20.  The  above  rank  in  earliness  and  size 
about  in  the  order  named.  The  Little  Pixie 
is  earlier  even  than  the  old  Early  York.  The 
heads  are  small,  but  very  hard.  An  admirable 
first  early  variety.  The  Early  Wyman  some- 
what resembles  the  Wakefield.  It  grows 
rather  larger,  and  may  perhaps  be  an  improve- 
ment on  that  well-known  variety.  The  Can- 
non-ball produces  what  its  name  indicates,  a 
very  hard,  round  head,  probably  harder  than 
any  other  variety. 


7O  A    MANUAL    OF 

The  Schweinfurth  Quintal  is  very  reliable 
for  heading.  The  heads  are  uniformly  large, 
the  largest  in  the  field,  but  are  not  very  solid. 
They  are  of  fine  shape,  white,  tender,  and  of 
excellent  quality. 

The  Early  Dark  Red  Erfurt  is  an  im- 
provement on  the  old  Red  Dutch.  It  is  ear- 
lier, of  a  deeper  color,  grows  on  a  shorter 
stem,  and  produces  a  fair-sized,  very  hard  head. 

The  Bergen  Drumhead  seems  to  be  earlier 
than  the  common  Late  Dr2imhead,  and  much 
more  reliable  for  heading. 

The  Stone  Mason  seems  of  late  somewhat 
prone  to  rot  in  the  stem  before  ripening. 
Otherwise  it  is  an  excellent  second  early  va- 
riety. Several  other  varieties  might  be  con- 
sidered valuable  but  for  their  liability  to  de- 
struction by  rotting.  Among  these  we  would 
name  Wheeler s  Imperial,  Robinsons  Cham- 
pion, Fearnaught,  and  Filderkraiit.  The  last 
named,  but  for  this  fault,  would  be  a  very  ex- 
cellent variety.  It  somewhat  resembles  the 
Winnigstadt  in  shape  and  habits  of  growth, 
but  is  even  more  pointed  than  that  justly 
popular  variety.  The  Silver  leaf  Dritmhead, 
French  Quintal,  Green  Glazed,  Dax  Drum- 
head,  imported  Flat  Brunswick  Drumhead, 


VEGETABLE    PLANTS.  71 

and  Enfield  Market  failed  entirely  to  produce 
heads  of  any  value  in  our  trial  patch.  Al- 
though we  ought  not  to  approve  or  condemn 
any  variety  on  a  single  trial,  we  feel  justifiable 
in  recommending  those  which  produced  fine 
heads  as  preferable  to  those  which  made  entire 
failures,  as  they  had  in  all  respects  an  equal 
chance.  The  Improved  American  Savoy  is 
probably  the  best  of  its  class.  The  savoys  are 
the  tenderest  and  finest  in  quality  of  all  cab- 
bages. The  heads  do  not  usually  grow  very 
large  or  very  solid.  They  are  more  especially 
grown  for  family  use,  where  fine  quality  is  more 
of  an  object  than  quantity. 

THE  CUT-WORM  is  the  next  enemy  which 
stands  ready  to  claim  the  plants.  It  is  so  old 
an  offender,  and  so  well  known,  that  no  de- 
scription is  necessary.  We  regret  that  we 
know  of  no  manner  of  exterminating  them 
cheaply  and  effectually.  If  very  plentiful, 
they  may  be  seen  while  preparing  the  ground, 
and  if  the  planter  has  no  other  spot  well 
adapted  to  cabbage  which  is  not  so  badly  in- 
fested with  them,  he  must  either  lose  a  large 
percentage  of  his  plants,  rid  the  grouad  of  the 
pests  before  setting  them,  or  so  prepare  them 
that  they  cannot  be  eaten  off  by  the  worms. 


72  A    MANUAL    OF 

His  peculiar  circumstances  must  enable  him  to 
decide  which  of  these  three  alternatives  is  his 
best  hold. 

The  plants  may  be  easily  prepared  to  with- 
stand this  enemy  by  wrapping  each  stem  with 
a  small  strip  of  thin  paper,  which,  when  the 
plant  is  set  in  position,  will  extend  down  to,  or 
slightly  into,  the  soil,  and  up  one  or  two  inches 
from  the  surface.  There  are,  doubtless,  prepa- 
rations in  which  the  stems  of  the  plants  may 
be  dipped  which  will  also  repel  or  kill  the 
worm,  and  still  not  injure  the  plant.  Experi- 
ments in  this  direction  might  result  in  valua- 
ble discoveries. 

If  a  few  days'  time  can  be  spared  between 
preparing  the  ground  and  setting  the  plants, 
these  worms  may  be  pretty  effectually  extermi- 
nated by  sowing  a  quantity  of  beans  over  the 
.piece  and  lightly  harrowing  or  raking  them  in. 
They  will  come  up  quickly  and  be  attacked  by 
the  cut-worms.  Then,  by  passing  over  the 
ground  daily  for  a  few  days  and  hunting  the 
worms,  which  are  readily  found  just  under  the 
surface,  close  by  the  plants  which  they  have 
just  cut  down,  the  patch  can  readily  be  cleared 
of  the  pests. 

THE  GREEN  WORM. — The  next  enemy  from 


VEGETABLE    PLANTS.  73 

whose  depredations  the  cabbage  is  likely  to 
suffer  is  the  white  cabbage  butterfly,  which  has 
been  in  this  country  but  a  few  years,  and  is  the 
parent  of  the  much  detested  green  cabbage 
worm.  For  a  year  or  two  after  its  advent  in 
this  country  it  caused  general  and  almost  com- 
plete destruction.  Now  it  injures  the  plants 
to  some  extent,  but  by  no  means  so  severely  as 
formerly.  The  reason  for  this  is  that  its  natu- 
ral enemies  have  also  become  numerous  enough 
to  keep  it  in  check.  Like  all  other  insects, 
there  are  three  stages  to  its  existence — viz.,  the 
perfect  insect,  which  is  the  butterfly  ;  the  cater- 
pillar, or  green  worm,  in  which  form  it  is  most 
destructive ;  and  third,  the  chrysalis,  or  pupa 
state,  in  which  it  is  dormant,  and  undergoes 
the  change  from  worm  to  butterfly.  When  in 
this  state,  and  to  all  appearances  lifeless,  in 
which  condition  it  passes  the  winter,  it  is 
sought  by  a  small  parasitic  fly,  which  punctures 
its  skin  and  lays  within  its  shell  a  number  of 
small  eggs.  These  soon  hatch  out  into  little 
white  maggots,  which  eat  the  inside  entirely 
out,  leaving  only  a  hollow  shell.  We  have  ex- 
amined dozens  of  these  chrysalides  in  early 
spring — which  are  to  be  found  on  the  sides  of 
buildings,  fences,  stones,  or  any  rubbish  near 


74  A    MANUAL    OF 

where  cabbage  was  grown  the  year  previous- — 
without  finding  a  single  one  not  infected  and 
spoiled  by  these  maggots.  So  much  reduced 
has  this  cabbage  pest  become  by  means  of  this 
parasite,  that  if  all  the  worms  found  while  hoe- 
ing the  plants  are  carefully  destroyed,  little 
damage  will  be  done  to  large  plantations,  even 
if  no  more  attention  is  paid  to  them.  Where 
but  a  few  plants  are  set-out  in  the  garden,  how- 
ever, the  damage  will  be  proportionately  much 
greater,  and  if  not  frequently  destroyed,  the 
worms  may  effect  a  complete  ruin. 

The  reason  for  this  is,  that  the  butterflies, 
which  lay  the  eggs,  are  very  active  insects,  being 
almost  continually  on  the  wing,  and  wandering 
around  from  field  to  field.  Wherever  they  can 
find  cabbage  they  stop  and  lay  a  few  eggs,  and 
pass  on.  The  consequence  is  that  the  eggs, 
and  soon  after  the  resulting  worms,  become 
nearly  as  numerous  on  the  small  patch  as  upon 
the  large,  and  of  course,  if  there  are  more 
worms  in  proportion  to  the  number  of  cab- 
bages, the  resulting  damage  will  be  correspond- 
ingly greater.  The  butterflies  are  attracted  to 
the  cabbage  by  the  sense  of  smell,  and  may  in 
a  great  measure  be  prevented  from  finding 
them  in  the  same  manner  as  we  have  describ- 


VEGETABLE    PLANTS.  75 

ed  for  the  prevention  of  the  flea-beetle.  As 
this  prevention  is  vastly  better  than  any  ciire 
with  which  we  are  acquainted,  we  will  not  oc- 
cupy space  by  giving  remedies,  especially  as 
we  know  no  infallible  one. 

SALTING  CABBAGE. — An  application  of  a 
few  bushels  of  salt  per  acre,  sown  upon 
the  soil  when  preparing  it  for  cabbage,  is 
very  beneficial,  the  cabbage  being  naturally 
a  salt-water  plant,  or  one  which  grows  to 
its  greatest  perfection  on  lands  contiguous 
to  the  sea-shore.  Salt  also  has  a  good  effect 
in  destroying  worms  upon  any  soil,  and  may 
be  used  very  beneficially  upon  any  lands  in- 
fested with  white  grubs  or  cut  worms. 

An  article  well  adapted  to  these  purposes  is 
the  refuse  or  dirty  salt,  which  may  frequently  be 
obtained  at  the  salt-works  at  from  $2  to  $5  per 
ton.  It  must  not  be  used  too  freely,  however,  or 
the  results  will  be  attended  with  more  loss  than 
profit.  We  have  in  mind  an'  instance  in  which 
we  procured  four  barrels  of  refuse  salt,  which  we 
intended  to  apply  as  a  top-dressing  on  nearly  as 
many  acres, mainly  for  the  purpose  of  drawing 
or  holding  the  moisture  during  the  dry  sum- 
mer months.  The  work  of  applying  was  left  to 
a  man  who  misunderstood  the  matter  entirely, 


76  A    MANUAL    OF 

and  the  contents  of  the  four  barrels  were  spread, 
with  a  shovel,  upon  about  one  third  of  an  acre 
in  the  centre  of  a  field  which  we  afterwards 
planted  with  potatoes.  The  result,  as  any  one 
might  naturally  infer,  was  a  total  dearth  of 
vegetation  upon  that  land  for  one  year.  Not 
even  a  weed  dared  to  lift  its  head,  and  a  cas- 
ual observer  might  have  supposed  that  a  pond 
of  water  had  recently  dried  away,  leaving  the 
middle  of  our  field  clean  and  bare.  The  fol- 
lowing season  that  spot  was  selected  as  a  site 
for  carrots  and  asparagus  plants,  both  of  which 
grew  finely,  and  with  but  little  trouble  from 
weeds. 

Judging  from  the  results  of  this  experiment, 
we  believe  that  a  heavy  application  of  salt 
might  frequently  be  made  to  pay  upon  rich, 
old  grounds  which  have  become  badly  infested 
with  weeds,  though  at  a  loss  of  use  for  one 
season.  A  small  pinch  of  salt  sprinkled  upon 
the  heads  of  growing  cabbage  is  also  thought 
to  cause  them  to  grow  larger  and  more  solid. 
It  may  be  repeated  at  intervals  of  one  or  two 
weeks,  each  time  enlarging  the  quantity.  Care 
must  be  exercised,  however,  not  to  overdo  this 
work,  as  too  large  a  dose  would  result  disas- 
trously. 


VEGETABLE  PLANTS.  77 

WATERING  THE  PLANTS  IN  THE  SEED-BED. 
— It  is  commonly  supposed  that  young  growing 
plants  require  very  frequent  watering  during 
dry  seasons.  Whether  this  supposition  is  cor- 
rect or  not  depends  entirely  upon  the  condition 
of  the  plants.  If  they  are  healthy,  with  leaves 
unspotted  by  bugs,  and  abundantly  supplied 
with  fibrous  roots,  they  are  capable  of  with- 
standing as  severe  drought  as  any  other  class  of 
plants.  But  if  maimed  and  crippled  in  both 
leaf  and  root,  as  is  too  frequently  the  case  when 
grown  by  parties  who  know  not  how  to  take 
care  of  them,  the  hot  sun  and  withering  winds 
will  curl  them  to  such  an  extent  that  frequent 
watering  is  the  only  means  of  sustaining  life. 


CELERY    PLANTS. 

THE  consumption  of  this  delicious  vegetable 
is  greatly  on  the  increase  in  this  country.  This 
causes  the  demand  for  celery  plants  to  annually 
become  larger,  and  as  there  is  considerable 
knack  in  producing  a  good  lot  of  plants,  it  has 
become  an  important  branch  of  business  with 
many  seedsmen  and  vegetable  gardeners. 

It  is  useless  to  attempt  to  grow  a  bed  of 


78  A    MANUAL    OF 

celery  plants  on  our  sunny  sidehills  in  the 
open  ground.  If  forced  to  produce  them  in 
such  situations,  it  must  be  done  in  frames, 
where  they  can  be  easily  watered  and  partially 
{shaded  The  natural  situation  for  celery 
seems  to  be  in  a  moist,  cool,  half-shady  position, 
near  a  body  of  water,  whose  vapors  as  they 
continually  arise  will  give  the  atmosphere  a 
perceptible  feeling  of  dampness.  A  rich, 
mucky  or  loamy  soil  is  best  adapted  to  the 
needs  of  this  plant. 

As  a  spot  eminently  fitted  in  these  respects 
is  usually  very  slow  to  dry  out,  it  will  generally 
be  found  too  wet  to  get  in  order  and  sow  as 
early  in  spring  as  it  is  necessary  the  seeds 
should  be  sown  in  order  to  produce  large, 
stocky  plants,  in  time  to  fully  develop  during 
our  short  seasons.  We  would,  therefore, 
recommend  working  the  soil  up  in  good  con- 
dition during  the  dry  fall  months  previous,  and 
leaving  it  in  high  ridges  over  winter.  All 
that  is  necessary  in  spring  will  be  to  rake 
down  the  beds  as  early  as  the  weather  will  per- 
mit, and  sow  the  seeds. 

The  seeds  should  always  be  sown  in  drills,  as 
directed  for  cabbage  plants,  about  ten  inches 
apart,  but  may  be  considerably  thicker  in  the 


VEGETABLE    PLANTS.  79 

rows  than  cabbage.  They  must  not,  however, 
be  covered  as  deeply  as  cabbage  seeds.  The 
manner  of  sowing  usually  decides  the  crop. 
If  properly  done,  they  will  come  up  evenly 
and  produce  a  good  crop  of  plants ;  but  if 
improperly  done,  the  chances  of  an  even  catch 
are  slim. 

The  seeds  must  be  covered  but  very  lightly, 
a  mere  sprinkling,  enough  to  hide  them  from 
sight,  being  sufficient.  Then,  to  prevent 
their  drying  out,  the  soil  must  be  "  firmed." 
The  simplest  manner  of  doing  this  on  a  small 
scale  is  to  pack  the  soil  on  the  rows  with  the 
feet.  Walk  over  each  row  twice,  by  placing 
one  foot  as  closely  ahead  of  the  other  as  pos- 
sible, so  that  your  whole  weight  will  press 
upon  every  inch  of  the  row.  Beds  so  treated 
will  come  up  evenly,  when  if  this  simple  firm- 
ing was  omitted  only  here  and  there  a  plant 
could  be  seen. 

Celery  seeds  are  slow  to  germinate  at  the 
best.  Every  thing  being  favorable,  two  weeks' 
time  will  elapse  between  the  sowing  and  the 
first  appearance  of  the  plants.  For  this  reason 
if  for  no  other,  the  plants  should  be  in  rows, 
and  the  rows  far  enough  apart,  so  they  can  be 
easily  hoed  out  and  the  weeds  kept  in  check. 


8O  A    MANUAL    OF 

Celery  plants,  to  become  large,  stocky,  and 
of  good  shape,  should  be  transplanted,  or 
"  pricked  out,"  as  gardeners  term  it,  as  soon  as 
they- have  attained  a  height  of  two  inches,  into 
a  bed  of  rich,  mellow  soil,  in  rows  four  to  six 
inches  apart,  and  two  inches  in  the  row. 

Here  they  should  receive  frequent  water- 
ings, and  should  be  sheared  or  cut  back  as 
often  as  they  show  any  tendency  to  send  up  tall 
and  spindling  leaf-stalks.  This  keeps  them  short 
and  stocky,  and  causes  them  to  form  a  mass 
of  fibrous  roots.  They  will  then  be  ready  to 
start  into  vigorous  growth  as  soon  as  put  out 
in  the  field,  where  they  have  plenty  of  room. 
They  may  be  left  in  these  beds  until  the 
removal  of  some  early  field  or  garden  crop 
gives  a  vacant  spot  for  setting  them,  and  will 
be  growing  probably  more  rapidly  in  the  beds 
during  the  hot  and  dry  weeks  of  midsummer 
than  they  would  in  the  field. 


ASPARAGUS    PLANTS. 

ONE  of  the  best  paying  vegetables  for 
marketing  at  the  present  day,  if  rightly 
managed,  is  asparagus.  A  grower  of  veg- 


VEGETABLE    PLANTS.  8 1 

etable  plants  will  therefore  find  a  good  de- 
mand among  his  customers  for  asparagus 
plants,  and  as  they  are  very  easily  grown  they 
may  be  sold  at  seemingly  low  prices,  yet  at  a 
fair  profit. 

The  requisites  for  an  asparagus  plant  bed 
are  a  light,  rich,  sandy  loam,  free  from  weeds. 
This  latter  is  an  indispensable  quality,  for  the 
seeds  are  several  weeks  in  germinating,  and  if 
the  ground  is  full  of  weed-seeds,  they  will  spring 
up  and  occupy  the  land  so  far  in  advance  of  the 
asparagus,  that  it  can  never  catch  up.  There- 
fore, select  a  spot  which  is  smooth  and  level, 
which  has  been  in  potatoes,  cabbage,  or  some 
hoed  crop  the  previous  year,  and  kept  free 
from  weeds.  Plough,  furrow,  and  rake  it  into 
beds  early  in  spring,  as  directed  for  cabbage 
seeds.  Sow  the  seeds  with  a  drill,  three  or 
four  rows  upon  each  bed,  mixing  with  it  a  few 
radish  seeds.  These  will  spring  up  at  once, 
and  thus  enable  the  ground  to  be  hoed  or  cul- 
tivated before  the  young  asparagus  plants  have 
made  their  appearance.  All  that  is  now  neces- 
sary is  keeping  the  weeds  from  growing,  and 
thinning  out  the  asparagus  plants,  if  too  thick, 
to  about  three  inches  apart.  If  upon  good 
soil  and  well  taken  care  of,  these  one-year-old 


82  A    MANUAL    OF 

plants  will  be  good  for  setting  in  permanent 
beds  in  spring.  Two-year-old  plants  are  very 
frequently  used,  but  a  first-class  one-year-old 
is  considered  fully  as  valuable  as  one  which,  on 
account  of  neglect,  has  occupied  two  years  in 
attaining  a  suitable  size  for  setting. 

Asparagus  plants  are  perfectly  hardy,  and 
may  be  safely  wintered  in  the  beds  without 
protection,  yet,  if  upon  soil  which  is  liable  to 
heave  by  frost,  a  slight  covering  will  prevent 
damage. 


STRAWBERRY     PLANTS. 

SHOULD  you  ask  persons  who  grow  straw- 
berries if  they  have  any  young  plants  to 
spare,  nine  out  of  ten  will  say,  "  Oh,  yes ! 
thousands  of  them."  You  go  after  them, 
and  you  will  probably  find  an  old  bed  which 
has  become  matted  with  vines,  yet  when 
you  undertake  to  dig  them  it  is  with  great 
difficulty  that  you  can  obtain  a  dozen  good 
plants.  There  may  be  thousands,  but  they  are 
so  crowded,  and  have  occupied  the  ground  so 
long,  that  the  majority  of  them  are  either  too 


VEGETABLE    PLANTS.  83 

old  to  be  of  any  value  to   transplant,  or  else 
too  weak  and  small. 

Growing  plants  and  growing  berries  are 
separate  and  distinct  branches  of  business, 
and  cannot  well  be  both  done  at  the  same 
time  in  the  same  beds.  Because  a  man 
grows  berries,  it  should  not,  therefore,  be 
inferred  that  he  has  young  plants  to  spare. 
He  may  have,  or  he  may  not.  To  pro- 
duce nice  berries,  the  runners  should  be 
kept  cut  so  that  the  old  plant  will  stool 
out  and  become  large  and  thrifty.  To  pro- 
duce good  plants,  they  must  be  allowed  to 
run  for  one  season  only,  on  fresh  soil,  free  from 
weeds,  where  the  young  rootlets  can  readily 
take  hold.  Strawberry  plants  are  fit  for  set- 
ting only  during  the  season  in  which  they  are 
formed,  or  early  in  the  following  spring.  If 
older  than  this,  the  roots  become  hard  and 
black,  when  it  is  with  difficulty  that  they  can 
be  made  to  live,  and  they  are  not  at  all  likely 
to  grow  thriftily.  On  the  other  hand,  if  too 
young,  or  grown  in  old,  crowded,  or  weedy 
beds,  the  roots  will  be  few  and  short,  and  the 
plants  generally  too  weak  and  feeble  to  do 
well.  The  usual  method  for  obtaining  plants 
is  to  keep  the  bed  in  condition  for  producing 


84  A    MANUAL    OF 

fruit  for  one  year.  Then  remove  the  mulching 
and  cultivate  between  the  rows  thoroughly, 
letting  the  runners  grow  the  next  season  after 
fruiting. 

When  we  get  choice,  new  varieties,  from 
which  we  wish  to  propagate  as  rapidly  as 
possible,  we  have  found  it  the  best  plan  to 
procure  them  in  March,  and  set  at  first  in  a 
moderate  hot-bed,  or  cold  frame,  where  they 
will  grow  rapidly,  and  usually  bloom  in  April. 
The  blossoms  are  picked  off  as  soon  as  formed 
or  while  in  bud.  The  next  tendency  of  the 
plant  is  to  throw  out  runners,  after  it  has  borne 
or  attempted  to  bear  fruit.  Early  in  May,  or 
as  soon  as  all  hard  frosts  are  past,  we  carefully 
transfer  them  to  the  open  ground,  selecting  a 
situation  for  them  which  is  free  from  weeds 
and  weed  seeds  as  possible,  and  which  will  be 
likely  to  remain  somewhat  moist  at  the  surface 
throughout  the  season.  Here  they  should  be 
'placed  not  nearer  than  three  feet  apart  each 
way,  and  different  varieties  at  least  ten  feet 
apart,  for  they  are  prepared  to  throw  out  run- 
ners at  once,  and  as  they  will  keep  running  all 
the  season,  until  stopped  by  cold  weather  late 
in  the  fall,  the  number  of  plants  produced  will 
not  only  be  surprisingly  large,  but  they  will  be 


VEGETABLE    PLANTS.  85 

of  remarkably  fine  quality,  and  well  supplied 
with  roots.  There  is  a  great  difference  in  the 
running  propensities  of  different  varieties.  A 
hundred  plants  each  of  the  CAPTAIN  JACK  and 
CUMBERLAND  TRIUMPH,  set  out  last  spring, 
after  the  above  treatment,  have  entirely  cov- 
ered the  ground  with  very  fine  plants ;  while 
the  GREAT  AMERICAN,  PROUTY'S  SEEDLING 
and  others  have  shown  more  of  a  tendency  to 
stooling,  or  developing  large  hills,  so  that  but 
few  plants  have  been  formed. 

SETTING  THE  PLANTS. — Strawberry  plants 
should  be  taken  up  carefully  with  a  garden 
trowel,  the  roots  straightened  out,  and  all  de- 
caying leaves  and  runner  stalks  neatly  trimmed 
off.  It  is  well  also  to  trim  the  ends  of  the 
roots  neatly  and  smoothly,  as  new  rootlets  will 
readily  start  out  where  they  are  cut.  We 
have  somewhat  changed  our  views,  during  the 
last  few  years,  in  regard  to  the  best  manner  of 
setting  the  plants.  We  used  to  accept  the 
plan  so  frequently  recommended,  of  spreading 
the  roots  as  much  as  possible  around  a  small 
mound  on  the  surface,  as  the  best.  But  we 
have  found  that  it  will  hardly  answer  in  our 
locality,  where  we  are  liable  to  suffer  on  ac- 
count of  very  dry  weather,  as  the  soil  is  liable 


86  A    MANUAL    OF 

to  become  dry  even  below  the  roots,  before 
they  have  taken  a  start  and  the  plants  die. 
We  therefore  have  had  better  success  in  set- 
ting as  we  would  set  cabbage  plants,  by  mak- 
ing a  hole  some  three  or  four  inches  deep  with  , 
a  dibber,  and  putting  the  roots  down  as  far  as 
possible  without  getting  the  crown  below  the 
surface.  This  will  give  the  plant  moisture 
until  new  roots  are  developed,  so  that  fewer 
vacancies  will  be  found  in  the  bed. 

We  believe  that  nothing  is  gained  in  our 
locality  by  fall  setting,  but,  on  the  contrary, 
spring  planting  has  every  thing  to  recommend 
it.  We  know  that  many  claim  a  half  crop  the 
first  season  upon  fall-planted  vines.  This  we 
have  yet  to  see  them  do.  Of  course  we  get  a 
few,  but  the  extra  cost  of  covering  the  plants 
with  straw  the  first  winter,  which  must  be 
removed  in  order  to  cultivate  in  spring,  more 
than  balances  the  gain.  In  some  sections 
strawberries  may  be  profitably  grown  without 
any  winter  covering,  or  protection  from  the 
cold.  But  it  is  not  so  with  us.  The  continual 
freezing  and  thawing  lifts  the  plants  from  their 
position  little  by  little,  until  they  are  left  en- 
tirely upon  the  surface,  where  the  frost  and  wind 
hold  high  carnival  over  the  remains  until  not  a 


VEGETABLE    PLANTS.  87 

spark  of  life  is  left.  A  winter  covering  of  straw 
or  forest  leaves  is  therefore  indispensable,  and 
the  cultivator  who  plants  a  larger  area  than  he 
can  cover,  throws  his  labor  away. 

PACKING  PLANTS  FOR  TRANSPORTATION. — 
If  to  be  sent  but  a  short  distance,  no  particular 
care  will  be  required  in  packing,  further  than 
to  lay  them  evenly  and  securely.  The  roots 
should  be  dipped  in  water  in  order  that  they 
may  be  kept  moist,  and  the  plants  retain  their 
freshness  ;  but  the  tops  must  be  packed  dry. 
What  we  must  particularly  guard  against  is  the 
liability  of  the  plants  to  heat,  when  they  will 
turn  yellow  and  commence  to  decay  rapidly. 

We  have  experimented  a  great  deal  on  this 
matter  of  packing,  and  will  endeavor  to  de- 
scribe the  method  which  seems  most  satisfac- 
tory. The  plants  when  pulled  are  counted  out 
in  bunches  of  one  hundred  each.  After  dipping 
the  roots  in  water,  two  layers  are  placed  in  the 
box,  the  roots  toward  each  other.  Slightly 
damp  moss  is  packed  on  and  between  the  roots 
to  retain  moisture  there.  If  to  remain  packed 
over  twenty-four  hours,  some  perfectly  dry 
hay  or  straw  must  be  packed  in  alternate  lay- 
ers with  the  tops,  say  one  inch  of  this  packing 
to  every  three  or  four  inches  of  plants.  In 


88  'A    MANUAL    OF 

this  way  the  two  tiers  are  built  up  to  the  top 
of  the  box.  A  piece  of  board  six  inches  in 
width,  and  as  long  as  the  width  of  the  box,  is 
then  pressed  down  upon  the  roots,  and  fastened 
at  each  end  with  a  nail  driven  through  the  sides 
of  the  box.  The  ends  of  the  plants  should 
not  come  in  contact  with  the  box,  but  a  space 
of  at  least  two  inches  left  for  the  circulation  of 
air.  The  sides  and  top  of-  the  box  should  be 
composed  of  slats,  also  for  the  free  admission 
of  air. 

For  short  distances,  we  usually  take  any 
cheap  box  of  suitable  size,  place  a  layer  of 
moss  in  the  bottom,  and  stand  the  plants  up- 
right in  it,  packing  a  sufficient  quantity  of  moss 
or  hay  between  or  around  them  to  hold  them 
in  position,  and  ship  with  no  covering  what- 
ever over  the  top.  The  express  agents  and 
others  handling  the  box  will  then  see  at  a 
glance  that  if  they  turn  the  box  over  the  con- 
tents will  be  spilled.  The  result  is,  the  box 
is  carried  right  side  up,  with  care.  This  would 
hardly  do,  however,  for  long  distances  or  in 
crowded  cars.  If  the  box  is  covered  at  all,  the 
plants  must  be  securely  fastened  so  they  will 
not  shake  around  whenever  the  box  changes 
position,  as  it  must  be  expected  to  carry  with 


VEGETABLE    PLANTS.  89 

any  side  up  that  may  happen  during  the  jour- 
ney. 

Second-hand  soap  and  saleratus  boxes  are  of 
good  size  and  shape  for  packing-boxes.  With 
the  best  of  packing,  plants  will  not  safely  with- 
stand more  than  three  days'  journey,  and  a  dis- 
tance occupying  two  days  will  be  as  great  as 
will  be  found  profitable,  taking  into  considera- 
tion the  risk  and  also  the  increased  express 
charges. 

We  have  recently  adopted  cheap  willow  bas- 
kets for  packing  but  a  few  hundred  plants. 
They  are  light,  neat,  cheap,  and  admit  air 
freely,  so  as  to  carry  plants  in  the  best  possible 
condition. 

CARE  ox  ARRIVAL. — Fully  as  important  as 
that  the  plants  be  properly  packed,  is  it  that 
the  receiver  understand  what  to  do  with  them 
when  received.  The  plants  will  undoubtedly  be 
somewhat  wilted  and  the  roots  more  or  less 
dry.  The  boxes  should  be  opened  as  soon  as 
possible  upon  receipt,  the  bunches  taken  out, 
and  the  roots  dipped  in  water.  The  plants 
should  then  be  laid  loosely  in  some  cool,  shady 
place,  until  they  revive  and  freshen  up.  Many 
planters  dip  the  roots  in  water,  and  then  in  dry 
plaster,  before  setting  out  in  the  field.  This 


90  A    MANUAL    OF 

helps  to  retain  the  moisture  to  some  extent, 
but  if  the  soil  is  loose,  fresh,  and  moist,  as  it 
should  be,  but  a  small  percentage  of  loss  will 
occur.  If  the  plants  are  much  wilted,  or  the 
weather  so  dry  or  hot  that  they  are  likely  to 
wilt  badly  after  setting,  all  the  larger  leaves 
should  be  removed  from  the  plants,  as  they  will 
then  be  much  more  likely  to  live. 

GROWING    SQUASHES. 

THE  ultimate  success  or  failure  of  a  squash 
crop  depends  perhaps  as  greatly  upon  the 
treatment  which  the  plants  receive  during  the 
first  stages  of  their  existence,  as  that  of  any 
vegetable  of  which  we  have  spoken.  We  will 
therefore  add  a  few  brief  notes  on  their  culture. 

A  dish  of  winter  squash  is  so  greatly  relished 
by  the  majority  of  people,  that  we  wonder 
they  are  not  considered  as  staple  as  potatoes, 
and  a  good  supply  laid  in  by  every  family. 
Unquestionably  the  best  varieties,  which  have 
been  thoroughly  tested  in  divers  localities,  are 
the  pure  Hitbbard  and  Marble  head.  The  B2it- 
man,  a  more  recent  introduction,  claims  to  sur- 
pass the  above  in  some  points,  but  is  not  yet 
well  enough  known  to  be  classed  as  a  standard 


VEGETABLE    PLANTS.  9! 

Either  of  the  above  will  keep  well  till  spring, 
providing  you  have  enough  so  that  the  cook 
will  leave  a  few  until  then.  Squashes  require 
a  light,  dry,  rich  soil.  Do  not  depend  upon  a 
half-bushel  of  rich  soil  in  the  hill,  thinking  that 
will  give  them  sustenance  sufficient  to  enable 
them  to  run  over  poor  ground.  You  will  never 
try  that  plan  but  once.  It  will  not  be  success- 
ful, for  this  reason :  not  only  are  the  main  roots 
very  long,  but  the  vine  does  not  depend  en- 
tirely upon  them  for  its  support.  At  every 
joint  \vhere  the  vine  branches  out,  a  new  root 
strikes,  down  for  nutriment. 

The  squash  is  a  rank  feeder,  and  requires 
heavy  manuring  to  enable  it  to  perfect  its  crop 
between  frosts.  It  is  therefore  a  safe  rule  to 
apply  at  least  one  half  of  the  allotment  of  ma- 
nure broadcast,  and  one  half  in  the  hill. 

Our  seasons  are  seldom  long  enough  to  en- 
able them  to  perfect  their  growth.  It  is  there- 
fore desirable  to  plant  earlier  than  the  late 
frosts  in  spring  will  allow  without  protection. 
One  of  the  cheapest  and  most  satisfactory 
plans  we  have  seen*  for  accomplishing  this,  is 
to  take  a  block  not  over  eight  or  ten  inches  in 
diameter,  place  it  on  the  hill  over  the  seeds 
after  planting,  and  with  a  hoe  draw  the  earth 


92  A    MANUAL    OF 

around  it  to  a  height  of  four  or  five  inches, 
packing  it  as  tightly  as  possible.  The  block, 
or  mould  should  be  a  little  larger  at  the  top 
than  at  the  bottom,  so  that  it  may  be  readily 
drawn  out,  leaving  the  soil  in  position.  The 
concave  thus  formed  is  now  covered  by  laying 
a  pane  of  glass  over  it.  This  concentrates  the 
sun's  rays,  shelters  the  hill  from  cold  winds, 
and  protects  the  plants  from  frosts  and  insects. 
The  covering  may  be  left  until  the  plants  press 
against  the  glasses,  when  they  are  removed,  and 
the  plants  thinned  and  hoed.  If  the  glasses 
are  thought  too  expensive,  a  good  quality  of 
paper  or  piece  of  cheap  muslin  fastened  down 
at  the  corners  will  answer  a  very  good  purpose. 
Two  plants  in  each  hill  are  better  than  more, 
but  as  they  are  easily  destroyed,  the  thinning 
should  be  left  until  you  are  confident  that  no 
further  loss  will  occur. 

The  greatest  enemy  to  the  squash  vine  are 
"  bugs."  The  large  brown  bug,  so  well  known 
as  a  "  stink  bug,"  will  devour  them  more  rapidly 
than  any  other,  yet  as  the  damage  done  by 
them  consists  mainly  in  the  amount  they  eat, 
a  little  watchfulness  will  save  the  vines  from 
them. 

The  yellow  and  black  striped  cucumber  bug 


VEGETABLE    PLANTS.  93 

are  the  most  to  be  feared,  for  not  only  do  they 
damage  by  the  amount  they  eat,  but  just  so 
sure  as  allowed  to  remain  for  any  considera- 
ble time  upon  the  vines,  they  will  literally  lay 
the  eggs  for  the  future  destruction  of  whatever 
escapes  their  greedy  jaws  !  Therefore  banish 
them  entirely.  Do  not  think  that,  because 
there  are  not  enough  to  destroy  your  plants, 
they  will  do  no  harm.  The  eggs  of  these  bugs 
soon  hatch  into  white  worms,  grubs,  or  borers, 
as  they  are  generally  termed,  which  enter  the 
body  and  main  roots  of  the  plants,  frequently 
boring  and  tunnelling  through  them  until  but 
a  resemblance  of  a  honey-comb  is  left.  Then 
the  plant  withers  and  dies.  There  is  no  other 
hope  for  it.  The  only  remedy  is  to  keep  off 
the  bugs.  The  plans  and  preventives  given 
elsewhere  for  saving  cabbage  plants  from  the 
attacks  of  the  flea-beetle,  will  also  apply  to 
squashes  with  equal  force. 

Squashes  will  mix  badly  if  different  varieties 
are  planted  near  each  other,  or  near  gourds, 
or  any  plants  of  the  same  natural  order,  but 
the  mixture  will  not  show  the  first  season,  so  it 
will  do  no  harm,  providing  the  seeds  from  such 
specimens  are  not  saved  for  future  planting. 


94  A    MANUAL    OF 

THE   POTATO. 

NOTES    ON    THE    NEWER    VARIETIES. 

PROBABLY  no  vegetable  in  the  catalogues  is 
of  greater  importance,  the  world  over,  than 
the  potato.  Therefore,  any  hints  by  which  the 
grower  may  be  enabled  to  improve  his  crop, 
in  yield  or  quality,  must  be  regarded  as  season- 
able. Good  crops  may  be  grown  on  a  great 
variety  of  soils ;  but  a  deep,  light,  sandy  loam, 
or  a  thoroughly  drained  peaty  soil,  is  most 
suitable.  A  heavy  application  of  stable  manure 
will  greatly  increase  the  size  of  the  tubers,  and 
also  the  general  yield  ;  but  it  will  also  increase 
their  liability  to  rot :  so  that  it  is  not  advisa- 
ble to  apply  fresh  stable  manures  largely, 
except  in  case  of  early  varieties,  designed  for 
marketing  as  soon  as  dug. 

However,  we  have  never  yet  observed  any 
damaging  influence  from  the  use  of  horse- 
manure  with  which  plenty  of  litter  has  been 
mixed,  and  think  the  loosening  properties 
which  such  materials  have  are  exactly  adapted 
to  the  wants  of  the  potato.  The  best  possible 
position  for  potatoes  is  where  a  light  soil  has 
been  heavily  manured  the  year  previous  for 


VEGETABLE    PLANTS.  95 

some  other  crop ;  or,  if  the  soil  is  somewhat 
heavy,  a  good  clover  sod,  plowed  under  the 
autumn  previous,  will  make  an  excellent  base 
on  which  to  grow  a  heavy  crop  of  potatoes. 

The  planting  should  be  done  early — as  soon, 
in  fact,  as  the  soil  is  in  good  working  order. 
Our  experience  has  been  that,  all  other  things 
being  equal,  the  earliest  planted  will  yield  at 
least  one  third  more  than  those  which  are 
delayed  two  or  three  weeks. 

We  are  convinced  that  the  majority  of  peo- 
ple plant  three  times  as  much  seed  as  they 
should  in  order  to  secure  the  best  results. 
Probably  the  average  amount  used  in  this 
country  for  seed  will  exceed  ten  bushels  per 
acre,  while  the  average  yield  will  not  exceed 
one  hundred  bushels,  or  at  most  a  ten-fold 
increase. 

Now,  we  suppose  the  potato  is  capable  of 
yielding  at  the  rate  of  an  hundred-fold  with 
common  field  culture ;  and  by  taking  a  little 
extra  pains,  in  favorable  situations,  different 
parties  have  succeeded  in  doing  ten  times  as 
well  as  this,  even  ;  for  upward  of  one  thousand 
pounds  have  repeatedly  been  produced  from 
a  single  pound  of  seed. 

We  have  for  a  number  of  years  practiced 


g  A    MANUAL    OF 

cutting  to  single  eyes ;  and  although  we  have 
never  succeeded  in  obtaining  such  enormous 
yields  as  those  referred  to,  we  find  that  we  get 
not  only  a  much  larger  yield  per  acre  than 
formerly,  but  a  far  smaller  percentage  of  small- 
sized  potatoes. 

There  is  no  disguising  the  fact  that  the  po- 
tato, when  propagated  year  after  year  from  tu- 
bers in  the  usual  manner,  is  subject  to  deterio- 
ration, degeneration,  or  a  continual  "  running 
out"  of  its  productive  capacities.  Where  are 
our  "  Merinoes,"  "  Mercers,"  and  "  Peachblows" 
of  twenty  years  ago  ?  Meagre  indeed  are  the 
returns  from  them,  compared  with  what  they 
were  in  their  youthful  days.  Our  old  favorites 
cannot  be  kept.  Their  day  has  passed,  and 
new  candidates  have  taken  their  places.  And 
these,  in  turn,  must  give  way  to  others  as  they 
become  unproductive,  as  they  certainly  will  in 
time. 

Our  only  method  of  retaining  and  improving 
the  productiveness  of  the  potato  crop  is  to 
continue  to  produce  new  varieties  from  the 
seed-ball.  Even  the  justly  celebrated  Early 
Rose,  which  at  the  time  of  its  introduction 
was  probably  without  a  peer  in  the  world,  has 
already  lost  much  in  this  respect,  and  now  has 


VEGETABLE    PLANTS.  97 

many  superiors.  Let  it  not  be  supposed  that 
every  new  seedling  is  valuable.  Men  who 
have  produced  varieties  of  especial  merit  have 
devoted  almost  their  whole  time  to  the  work, 
and  offered  to  the  public  only  a  few  of  the 
best  from  many  thousands  of  seedlings.  Who 
would  think  of  trying  to  produce  from  the 
seed  an  apple  superior  to  the  Northern  Spy, 
Baldwin,  or  Greening  ?  Yet  our  finest  fruits 
were  once  produced  from  seeds,  and  the 
chances  of  superiority  on  new  potatoes  are 
probably  no  greater  than  in  the  case  of  fruits. 
Those  who  have  been  most  successful  have 
accomplished  it  by  making  crosses,  or  hybrid- 
izing the  blossoms  on  the  best  varieties  at  their 
command.  In  this  way  great  improvements 
have  certainly  been  made  during  the  past  few 
years,  and  there  is  at  the  present  time  a  list 
of  varieties  which  we  believe  more  meritorious 
than  was  ever  offered  to  the  public  before — at 
least,  within  our  recollection.  We  will  append 
a  short  description  of  some  which  are  not  yet 
generally  cultivated : 

EARLY  VARIETIES. — Alpha. — This  is,  with- 
out doubt,  the  earliest  variety  in  cultivation. 
It  is  adapted  only  to  garden  culture,  as  the 
vines  are  of  a  very  dwarf  nature,  and  it  requires 


98  A    MANUAL    OF 

rich  soil  and  eareful  .cultivation.  Under  these 
conditions  a  fair  crop  may  be  obtained ;  but 
with  common  farm-culture  the  yield  will  be 
very  light  indeed.  It  originated  with  Mr. 
Pringle,  of  Vermont. 

Early  Ohio. — This  is,  all  things  considered, 
the  best  very  early  potato  we  have  ever  grown. 
It  is  of  recent  introduction.  It  is  a  seedling 
of  the  Early  Rose,  and  is  named  after  the  State 
in  which  it  originated.  It  is  of  nearly  the 
same  color  as  its  parent,  but  differs  in  shape, 
being  more  nearly  round.  It  grows  to  a  large 
size,  is  very  productive,  and  of  first-rate  quality. 
A  decided  acquisition. 

The  Ruby. — This  originated  with  Mr.  Pringle 
of  Vermont.  It  is  about  with  the  Early  Rose 
in  season  of  ripening,  is  of  a  deeper  red  color, 
and  is  in  every  way  a  very  desirable  variety. 

The  Snowflake  is  now  so  well  and  favor- 
ably known  that  it  scarcely  needs  description. 
The  tubers  present  a  beautiful,  smooth,  white 
appearance,  and  when  properly  grown  are 
unsurpassed  in  quality.  It  is  necessary  to 
seed  very  lightly  with  this  variety,  or  it  will 
produce  too  many  small  tubers. 

Early  Vermont  very  much  resembles  the 
Early  Rose  in  every  way.  We  think  it  is  de- 


VEGETABLE    PLANTS.  99 

cidedly  more  productive.  At  least,  it  is  newer, 
and  consequently  more  full  of  vigor. 

Carpenter  s  Seedling. — A  long,  smooth  va- 
riety, which  has  given  us  much  satisfaction. 
It  is  an  abundant  cropper,  produces  very  uni- 
form-sized tubers,  of  good  quality,  and  is  an 
excellent  keeper.  Ripens  with  Early  Rose. 

LATE  VARIETIES. — Burban&s  Seedling  is 
a  beautiful  potato  of  recent  introduction,  which 
has  few  faults  and  much  to  recommend  it.  It 
is  a  Massachusetts  production.  The  tubers  are 
long,  white,  and  smooth,  somewhat  resembling 
the  well-known  Prince  Albert.  Mr.  James  J.  H. 
Gregory,  who  has  the  honor  of  introducing  it, 
claims  for  it  more  desirable  points  than  any 
potato  with  which  he  has  experimented  for 
years.  In  beauty  of  form  it  is  unexcelled,  the 
proportions  being  all  that  can  be  desired,  and 
is  never  hollow-hearted.  It  has  the  valuable 
characteristic  of  yielding  almost  no  small  pota- 
toes. Season  medium  late. 

Dunmore  Seedling. — This  is  another  valua- 
ble new  variety  of  Mr.  Gregory's  introduction. 
It  is  a  large,  smooth,  round,  white  potato  of 
beautiful  appearance,  fine  quality,  and  enor- 
mous yielding  propensities.  We  have  grown 
many  specimens  weighing  two  pounds  each, 


IOO  A    MANUAL    OF 

and  have  not  yet  seen  a  hollow  one.  Its  gen- 
eral appearance  somewhat  resembles  the  Peer- 
less, but  it  surpasses  that  well-known  variety 
in  both  yield  and  quality. 

The  Calcutta  seedling  very  closely  resem- 
bles the  Dunmore  in  every  respect.  In  fact, 
it  is  difficult  to  distinguish  single  specimens, 
so  close  is  the  resemblance. 

The  Superior. — This  is  one  of  the  finest 
varieties  yet  introduced  by  Mr.  Brownell,  of 
Vermont.  It  is  a  very  smooth,  long,  red  pota- 
to. Inside  it  is  fine-grained,  white,  and  brittle. 
It  appears  to  be  an  excellent  keeping  variety. 
As  some  of  Mr.  Brownell's  former  seedlings 
have  been  lacking  in  this  essential,  it  is  to 
be  hoped  that  this  variety  will  remain  much 
longer  in  public  favor  than  some  of  them  have 
done. 

The  Triumph  is  a  new  variety,  recently  sent 
to  us  from  New  Hampshire.  It  is;a  rather 
flat,  round,  or  somewhat  oblong  variety.  An 
abundant  cropper,  and  all  that  can  be  desired 
in  quality  for  table  use.  It  is  worthy  of  a 
place  in  every  collection.  Color,  red.  Season, 
medium. 

Tioga. — This  originated  in  Genesee  County, 
N.  Y.  It  is  of  a  mottled,  red  and  white  color, 


very  smooth  and  productive,  but  valued  par- 
ticularly on  account  of  its  exceedingly  fine 
quality. 

Genesee  County  King. — Same  origin  as 
above.  It  is  a  very  large,  round,  free-growing, 
hearty  potato.  Its  only  fault,  so  far  as  we  can 
judge,  is  that  the  eyes  are  rather  more  sunken 
than  is  desirable. 

The  Victor. — A  large,  smooth,  round  potato, 
of  a  very  beautiful  light  pink  or  flesh  color. 
It  originated  in  Ohio.  It  seems  particularly 
well  adapted  to  light,  sandy  soils,  and  when  in 
just  the  right  situation,  has  given  astonishingly 
large  yields.  The  quality  is  somewhat  inferior 
to  some  of  the  above  varieties,  but  preferable 
to  many  which  are  more  popular  than  itself. 

The  Mahopac  is  a  seedling  of  the  Early 
Rose.  It  is  some  two  weeks  later  in  ripening 
than  its  parent,  but  surpasses  it  in  appearance, 
yield,  and  quality. 

The  above  list  embraces  all  the  most  valua- 
ble new  varieties  which  we  have  thoroughly 
tested ;  and  we  can  confidently  recommend  all 
or  any  of  them  to  the  public,  believing  they 
will  give  much  greater  satisfaction  than  the 
old,  degenerated  varieties,  to  which  so  many 
cultivators  still  tenaciously  cling.  Experi- 


I'Otf      A    MANUAL  ,b^t  VEGETABLE    PLANTS. 

ments  have  shown  us  that  bringing  the  seed 
.from  a  distance,  where  it  has  been  grown  on 
soil  of  a  different  character  from  that  on  which 
it  is  to  be  planted,  will  nearly  always  cause  po- 
tatoes to  yield  far  more  than  where  the  same 
or  an  equally  good  variety  is  continually 
propagated  on  the  same  soil. 


OUR  BUSINESS 


IS   THE   PRODUCTION   AND    SALE   OF   THE 


OF 


Vegetable  and  Flower  Seeds, 

VEGETABLE  PLANTS, 


AND 


NEW  VARIETIES  OF  SEED  POTATOES. 

We  invite  all  who  are  interested  in  these  things  to  send  us 
their  names  and  addresses,  and  we  will  take  pleasure  in  sending, 
free,  a  copy  of  our  latest  Priced  Catalogue.  Address, 

TILLINGHAST    BROS., 
Factory  vLTLe., 

WYOMING  CO.,   PA. 


5266! 


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